Wanting to give Cy Young favorite Justin Verlander an extra day off before his next start, the Tigers have decided to call up top prospect Jacob Turner to make his second big-league start Thursday against the Royals.
Turner made his major league debut July 30, allowing two runs over 5 1/3 innings in a loss to the Angels. He was pitching in Double-A prior to the spot start, but he’s since been moved up to Triple-A and he’s 1-0 with a 3.12 ERA and a 20/3 K/BB ratio in 17 1/3 innings for Toledo.
With both Rick Porcello and Brad Penny sporting ERAs just over 5.00, the Tigers have to be wondering who is going to be their fourth starter in the postseason. The 20-year-old Turner is already at 136 1/3 innings this year and the Tigers probably aren’t going to want to extend him past 150 or so, but even with his extreme lack of experience, he might be a better option against teams like the Red Sox and Yankees than the Tigers’ alternatives. Unfortunately, he could well be shut down before the end of September anyway.