Pirates A to Z: Nik Turley brought intensity to mound with an incredible comeback story

During the offseason, the Tribune-Review will offer Pirates A to Z, an alphabetical player-by-player look at the 40-man roster, from outfielder Anthony Alford to pitcher Nik Turley.

Nik Turley

Positions: Pitcher

Throws: Left

Age: 31

Height: 6-foot-4

Weight: 235 pounds

2020 MLB statistics: 0-3, 4.98 ERA/1.108 WHIP in 21 2/3 innings over 25 appearances, with 20 strikeouts and 11 walks.

Contract: Not yet eligible for arbitration.

Acquired: Claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Twins in November 2017.

This past season: Turley’s road back to the major leagues was a circuitous one that involved a suspension, a surgery and solid spring and summer training camps.

A 2008 50th-round draft pick of the New York Yankees — he was the third-to-last player chosen — Turley was on the fast track when he was named their minor league pitcher of the year in 2012 and added to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.

Two years later, after arm troubles, the Yankees released Turley. He bounced from the San Francisco Giants to the Chicago White Sox to the Boston Red Sox and even had a stint in the independent Atlantic League before making his MLB debut in 2017 as a starter with the Twins.

Soon after the Pirates claimed Turley, he was suspended 80 games in 2018 by MLB for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Then he had to undergo Tommy John surgery.

So, Turley was a bit of a surprise addition to the 30-man roster at the start of the shortened season, one that delighted Pirates general manager Ben Cherington.

“That’s a fun conversation,” Cherington said, “to be able to tell a guy like that, who’s worked so hard to come back, that he’s made the Opening Day roster.”

If you’re looking for a bright spot to start your day, here’s one from #Pirates game notes: LHP Nik Turley retired all three batters he faced in his season debut Saturday at STL, his 1st regular-season game since pitching with the Twins on 9/28/17 - a mere 1,029 days in-between.

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) July 26, 2020

Turley earned his first major-league save in a 2-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 27 when he pitched a scoreless seventh inning in the second game of a doubleheader for a series sweep. Turley got Yadier Molina to fly out to center, struck out Dylan Carlson and recorded the final out on a Max Schrock pop fly to right.

“If you were to ask me 10 years ago if, being in the big leagues if I would have gotten a win before a save, I probably would have said, ‘Win,’” Turley said. “But this was pretty special. It was a good night.”

What made it even more special was that John Ryan Murphy was behind the plate. They were rookie ball teammates with the Yankees in 2009, when Murphy caught a combined no-hitter involving Turley.

“We’ve been through a lot,” Turley said. “This is the third team that we’ve played together on. That was really cool. That made it a little bit more special.”

Turley became something of a social media star when camera close-ups caught him taking deep breaths while staring down batters, flashing an intensity that had broadcasters in disbelief.

Nik Turley is…all SORTS of intense pic.twitter.com/3HKM5Yt0Tm

— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) August 30, 2020

Turley, however, also had his share of struggles in protecting leads. He surrendered a three-run homer to Mike Moustakas against Cincinnati on Sept. 14. The most notable came in the season finale at Cleveland, when he entered the seventh with a one-run lead and gave up a two-RBI double to Carlos Santana and a sacrifice fly to Franmil Reyes.

The future: The Pirates thought highly enough of Turley in their bullpen that they kept him on the 40-man roster while losing Nick Tropeano and Brandon Waddell to waivers and parting ways with Nick Burdi, Dovydas Neverauskas and Yacksel Rios.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton noted that Turley took “an important step” by pitching in back-to-back games for the first time, pitching one inning against the Cubs on Sept. 3 and one-third of an inning in the second game of a doubleheader against the Reds on Sept. 4.

“We’ve had some guys, guys who have stepped up to be major parts of our bullpen that didn’t even start the year with us, and that’s extremely important, because we’re going to get guys back next year that we’re going to add in, that we’re really excited about,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “And we’ve had guys in our bullpen this year step up and seize opportunities. They’re pitching in high-leverage situations. They’re pitching in situations where they’re going one-plus. …

“I think that’s one of the areas I’m most pleased with with our club, is that we do have guys that are seizing those opportunities. It’s gonna make it fun as we get into spring training 2021, because we’re gonna have a lot of guys that should have the ability to get high leverage outs.”