Nik Turley

Nikolas Carlyle Turley (born September 11, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has previously played in Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins and Pittsburgh Pirates, and in NPB for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

New York Yankees
Turley attended Harvard-Westlake School, where he played for the school's baseball team. He committed to attend Brigham Young University (BYU) on a scholarship to play college baseball for the BYU Cougars baseball team. Out of high school, the New York Yankees selected Turley in the 50th round, with the 1,502nd selection, of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft. Turley was the third-to-last selection in the draft. Turley agreed to sign with the Yankees, forgoing college.

Turley spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with the Gulf Coast Yankees of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League. He pitched for the Staten Island Yankees of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League in 2010. He played with the Charleston RiverDogs of the Class A South Atlantic League in 2011 and the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League in 2012. He was a Post-Season All-Star with Tampa. After the season, the Yankees named Turley their minor league pitcher of the year, and added him to their 40 man roster after the 2012 season to protect him from being selected by another team in the annual Rule 5 draft.

In 2013, Turley pitched for the Trenton Thunder of the Class AA Eastern League, and made one start for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Class AAA International League. On the season, Turley had an 11–8 win–loss record with a 3.88 earned run average and was a Mid-Season All-Star with Trenton. He started and won Game One of the 2013 Eastern League Championship Series.

Attending spring training in 2014, Turley did not pitch due to arm tightness. The Yankees optioned Turley to the minor leagues. He was released by the team on April 26, 2014. He re-signed with the team on May 8.

San Francisco Giants
Turley signed as a minor league free agent with the San Francisco Giants on December 5, 2014. He elected free agency on November 6, 2015.

Chicago White Sox
Turley signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox on November 24, 2015. He was released on March 26, 2016.

Boston Red Sox
Turley signed a minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox on April 11, 2016. He was released on July 8, 2016.

Somerset Patriots
On July 27, 2016, he signed with the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League.

Minnesota Twins
After the 2016 season, Turley signed a minor league contract with the Minnesota Twins. He pitched for the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Class AA Southern League and Rochester Red Wings of the International League before the Twins promoted him to the major leagues on June 11.

He made his debut that day, starting against the San Francisco Giants. Turley allowed four runs on eight hits in four innings. He compiled a 16.39 ERA in 9.1 innings across three starts before being sent back down to Triple-A. He returned on August 18 and pitched out of the bullpen before being optioned two days later. He was called up again when rosters expanded in September. On the season, he allowed 22 earned runs in 17.2 innings.

Pittsburgh Pirates
On November 5, 2017, the Pittsburgh Pirates claimed Turley off of waivers. Turley was suspended for the first 80 games of the 2018 season after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. After returning from his suspension, Turley was placed on the Disabled List with an elbow strain. He was outrighted to AAA on October 4, 2018. Turley underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the 2019 season.

He was a non-roster invitee in big league camp in 2020 and even made the opening day roster, before the COVID-19 pandemic. He was included on the Pirates' 60-man player pool in June before the start of the shortened MLB season. On July 23, Turley was called up to the Pirates. He pitched to a 4.98 ERA with 20 strikeouts over 21.2 innings pitched in 25 appearances. On January 12, 2021, Turley was designated for assignment by the Pirates following the acquisition of Troy Stokes Jr.

Oakland Athletics
On January 14, 2021, Turley was traded to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for cash considerations.

Chicago White Sox (second stint)
On March 21, 2021, Turley was claimed off waivers by the Chicago White Sox. On March 30, 2021, Turley was designated for assignment following the signing of Jake Lamb. On April 1, Turley was outrighted. On October 14, Turley elected free agency.

Hiroshima Toyo Carp
On November 9, 2021, Turley signed with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Turley made 44 appearances for Hiroshima in 2023, registering a 7–1 record and 1.74 ERA with 42 strikeouts across $41 1⁄3$ innings of work. On November 30, 2023, the Carp announced that Turley would not be brought back for the 2024 season, making him a free agent.

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
On December 27, 2023, Turley signed with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Pitching style
Turley is 6 ft tall and weighs 225 lbs. He uses his height to push the ball down into the strike zone and turns his body sideways as he throws to home plate. His pitches include a fastball that averages 90 to 91 mph, a curveball that averages 77 to 79 mph, and a changeup. Turley also generates a lot of spin rate on his pitches. In 2020, his fastball ranked in the top 5% and his curveball ranked in the top 15% throughout MLB.

Personal life
Turley is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He intends to serve as a missionary after he retires from baseball.

Turley has been married to Rachel Turley (née Johnson) since 2011. He grew up in La Cañada, California, and has three older brothers, who all played college sports. Turley describes former Yankee Bob Turley as a "distant relative".