Shorebird of the Week – June 30, 2016

It’s nice to have a built-in fan club, but Drew Turbin has been a steady presence in the infield for Delmarva this year. In all but one of his 60 games this year, manager Ryan Minor has stationed Turbin at second base and has been rewarded with an excellent fielding performance with just enough offense to be a threat. After a somewhat slow start, last year’s 14th round selection out of Dallas Baptist University has pushed his slash line to .237/2/17/.677 OPS – still a little below average, but over the month of June Drew has hit .262 with a much more respectable .760 OPS. (Turbin was only hitting .212 at the end of April, so improvement has been slow, but accelerating.)

Not many baseball players hail from the state of Idaho, but Turbin was born and raised there, playing there through high school before attending junior college in sunny Arizona then moving on to DBU. The 23-year-old played his first pro season last year with Aberdeen, hitting .254/2/30/.684 OPS in 70 games there. And aside from starting a game at third base on May 29 – making an error in just three chances – Drew has exclusively played the second sack through his pro career. That lack of versatility, however, may be an impediment to his eventual career unless he continues his upward trend at the plate. On the other hand, working in more of a utility role is possible for a guy who hits in the .240 range – Ryan Flaherty has made a nice career out of that with the Orioles despite a .217 career batting average (his .233 average thus far in 2016 would be a career high-water mark if he maintains it.)

In the meantime, though, Drew is getting the chance to play every day and improve his game. Since he just turned 23 in April, development-wise he is close to schedule and should have the opportunity to play with Frederick next season.