AMAZIN’ PLACE: Justin Turner, who was drafted by the Yankees in 2005, has been sparkling after given a chance this season with the Mets. (Paul J. Bereswill)
Damon Oppenheimer and Terry Collins saw Justin Turner five years apart and in quite different circumstances, yet appreciated the same trait.
Oppenheimer watched Turner in 2005 during his first year as the Yankees’ VP of amateur scouting. Collins eyed Turner in 2010, his only year as the Mets’ minor league field coordinator. Neither executive was overwhelmed by Turner’s skills; certainly that was not what made both tell their superiors Turner would work his way to the majors.
Instead, independently, they both used the same expression about Turner: “He is a baseball player.”
Translation: Turner knows what he can and can’t do on the field, will always be ready mentally and physically, will maximize whatever ceiling he has with passion and has a high baseball IQ.
“You know how he will play and prepare and you will know his determination,” Oppenheimer said yesterday by phone. “He will not beat himself on or off the field. He is a self-starter. You are not going to have to tell him to work.”
Oppenheimer liked Turner enough to authorize that the Yankees draft the diminutive infielder in the 29th round in 2005 out of Fullerton State. And then Oppenheimer really liked what he saw over a two-week period scouting Turner with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the Cape Cod League. So he offered Turner $200,000, a big number for such a late selection who already had completed his junior year.
“I really liked Red Turner,” Oppenheimer said, coining a nickname based on the player’s hair color. “He was a good baseball player. He did not have the standard tools you look for, but you always thought he was a kid who would find his way to the big leagues.”
But Turner rejected the offer. He did not like that the Yankees had waited more than a week to contact him after his college season ended. So he enrolled in fall classes at Fullerton before heading to the Cape. His college roommate, outfielder Danny Dorn, had been selected in the 23rd round of the same draft. Turner says they agreed to reject the pros temporarily and return as seniors to try to win the college World Series, as they had as sophomores in 2004.
Fullerton State lost to eventual champion North Carolina in the 2006 semis, Turner was drafted in the seventh round by the Reds and signed for $50,000. A year ago this coming Wednesday, the Mets claimed Turner off waivers from the Orioles, for whom Turner had played briefly both in 2009 and 2010. It was an agate-page line. Except Turner emerged on Collins’ minor league radar.
“I thought he was a baseball player,” Collins said. “This guy stays within his ability. Does he have great range? No. But he will make plays, hang in great on a double play, handle a bat. He is a Southern California guy, so he is laid-back, but not on the field; on the field he has energy. Players like talking to him and playing with him. This guy loves to play and be out there.”
Collins, now as the Mets manager, would have taken Turner out of this past spring training. But he had options, profiled as a utilityman and the Mets wanted to see Rule 5 pick Brad Emaus. So Turner waited — again.
“There are a lot of great players at Triple-A,” Turner said. “It is about getting your chance, being in the right place at the right time.”
And so here was Turner last night, his right place and right time was the Subway Series, but not for the team he snubbed out of the draft. Instead, he is helping the Mets endure the injury absence of David Wright.
He had a bunt single, two doubles and an RBI as the Mets beat the Yankees 2-1. He has now tied the Mets’ rookie record with RBIs in six straight games. He has reached base safely in 10 straight.
At 26, 11 months older than Evan Longoria, Turner is getting his shot, becoming the Little Red Engine That Could. The utilityman turned folk hero. The right man and, for now, the Wright man.
Perhaps this is just his Mike Vail moment, his Steve Henderson homage. Maybe when this beautiful dream ends he will return to borderline major leaguer.
For now, though, he is honoring what his admirers liked so much about him: Justin Turner is a baseball player.