STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton Texan baseball team added another player to the 2011 roster as Ryan Turner signed a National Letter-of-Intent to play for the Texans next spring, head coach Bryan Conger announced on Thursday.
“We are extremely excited about Ryan joining our program next fall,” Conger said. “Ryan has already been drafted twice and could easily be drafted again later this summer. He brings a big-time fastball and slider combination with him that is ideal for a closer. We feel Ryan's signing will allow us to shorten the game and give us the flexibility to do some good things on the mound next year.”
The Texans had great results from the closing-pitcher role this past season, as Nathan Lewis, Tarleton's primary closer, collected a school record nine saves on the season. Conger feels that adding Turner to that role will help benefit both him and Lewis, as Lewis returns to a starting role.
Turner, a right-handed pitcher, will transfer to Tarleton after spending last season at McLennan Community College. The newest Texan went 7-2 his in his sophomore campaign with the Highlanders and ended the season with an impressive 1.88 earned run average. He had 12 saves on the season and was named a first team all-conference selection at the end of the year.
Turner was a prep star at Richland High School and was a catcher throughout most of his high school career before making the switch to the mound mid-senior year. Turner then played his freshman year of college baseball at Midland Junior College before transferring to McLennan CC.
Turner has been no stranger the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, as mentioned earlier he has been drafted twice already. The Tampa Bay Rays selected the North Richland Hills product in the 22nd round of the 2007 draft, but Turner did not sign with the team. The Rays again took Turner in the 2008 draft, selecting him in the 30th round. Turner again elected not to sign and continued to play college baseball.
According to a Baseball America scouting report, Turner made the biggest impression among the pitchers at the Texas Scout Association showcase last summer as he showed a 90-94 mph fastball, a hard curve and then doing it again in the fall. Baseball America then noted that Turner had a compact delivery and a 6-4, 190-pound-build that offers plenty of projection and that if he didn't sign, he could emerge as an early-round pick in the 2011 draft.
Turner will begin off-season workouts with the Texans beginning next fall.
The Texans finished the 2010 season with the school's first winning season since 2003, going 26-25 overall and 21-19 in Lone Star Conference play. Tarleton advanced to the LSC Championship Tournament for the second straight year under Conger's direction.
