Sprouts: Jacob Turner, Brewers Farm Recap and the Dayton Dragons
By Wally Fish
Since it is past midnight as I write this I know that it’s technically Tuesday, but I’m going to call a mulligan and backdate this an hour or so. It’s been a bit of a crazy weekend and I fell behind on pretty much everything I wanted to accomplish between Saturday and today.
So here we are on a “Monday” … the Chiefs and Vikings are both 0-3, the Twins easily locked up the 2nd worst record in all of baseball, the Royals are – once again – winning games in September when it doesn’t really matter, the Golden Gophers lost by 13 (!) to North Dakota State and Missouri predictably lost to #1 Oklahoma. The only bright spots in my sporting world came when Kansas State shocked Miami in a very entertaining game and the Kansas Jayhawks couldn’t prove to the world that they have the worst defense in college football … because they didn’t play. But no matter how bad it gets, I will always have minor league baseball and prospects to maintain my focus and keep my spirits up.
First up in this edition of Sprouts, we turn to our wonderful Tigers site, Motor City Bengals. The topic of John Verburg’s article was none other than Jacob Turner, the team’s #1 prospect heading into this season. In the course of the article, John poses the question, “Are the Tigers doing the right thing getting Turner’s feet wet this soon?”
Well if you read this site regularly, you know that I am decidedly not a fan of rushing starting pitching to the majors. I published my opinions specific to Turner after he made his first big league start on July 30th. That first start, which was just “okay” wound up being the best of the three for young Mr Turner. In his last 2 starts for Detroit he gave up 14 hits, 10 earned runs and 3 home runs while walking 1 and striking out just 2. To make things worse, those starts came against the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals. Not exactly the upper crust of potent offenses in 2011.
Baseball is very much a game of confidence and while it is possible that his 12.2 innings of major league experience won’t adversely impact Turner’s long term future, I still don’t understand the need to push him.
He wasn’t ready and he wasn’t dominating in the minors to the extent that the team had to promote him. Now he heads into 2012 with a bit of uncertainty surrounding his standing as a prospect. He’s still wildly talented but no one wants to see a top prospect get knocked around to such an extent.
Clipped from: motorcitybengals.com (share this clip)
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On the 20th, Colin Bennett did an excellent job recapping the seasons of Milwaukee’s minor league affiliates. From the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (A) to the Nashville Sounds (AAA) this article is definitely worth checking out if you like the Brewers, the minors or simply have a weird fascination with articles that put closure on things.
Clipped from: reviewingthebrew.com (share this clip)
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Speaking of wrapping things up, John Heitz did just that when he wrote about the Dayton Dragons for our Cincinnati Reds site, Blog Red Machine. Want to know who finished as the best and worst in various statistical categories for the Reds Midwest League (A) team? Then look no further because John’s got you covered. You may not recognize a lot of the names but you will recognize the team’s player of the year.
Clipped from: blogredmachine.com (share this clip)
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