Why it took the Marlins two drafts and two ownership groups to land Andrew Turner

The New York-Penn League season began on Friday. Much of the rosters are filled with players that were recently drafted and signed. Among the players that occupy a spot on the Batavia Muckdogs roster, only one had the distinction of being drafted by the Miami Marlins twice.

Andrew Turner was drafted by the Marlins both in 2017 and 2018. Both the current (Derek Jeter/Bruce Sherman) and previous ownership group (David Samson/Jeffery Loria) got a chance to shepherd him to their farm system. It was fitting that the brain trust that actually cared about the minor league system were the ones to land Turner.

Going into the 2017 MLB Draft, Turner had a good feeling that the Marlins would be there to select him after going through their workouts. He found out that he was taken in the 40th round while playing in the Cape Cod League.

He spent the moments prior to opening night monitoring the draft tracker waiting for his name to appear with one of the 30 MLB team logos, but to no avail. It wasn’t until he took the field that his named was called in the 40th round.

“Everyone in my dugout started yelling my name and I came in the dugout and my coach told me,” Turner said. “It was a dream come true. It was everything I worked for and for the next few days everyone was just expecting me to sign. I was getting ready to sign. I left the Cape Cod League because I was going to sign but it just didn’t sit right with me leaving LIU.”

Turner’s main reason behind declining to sign with the Marlins staying at LIU Brooklyn was because he felt that the Blackbirds were close to winning their first conference tournament championship in program history and wanted to be there for it. Despite being a school so small that, “people in Brooklyn themselves have never even heard of it,” has a NCAA Division I athletic program but a baseball team that hasn’t appeared in the postseason since 1972.

“It wasn’t a no,” Turner said, “it was more of I had to return to LIU. So as thankful as I was for the opportunity to go play for the Marlins, I couldn’t say no to LIU. The chance we had, the roommates, we’ve been through everything together and I wanted that chance to go and compete for our first ever championship.”

Turner’s vision came to reality as the Blackbirds defeated Wagner 8-5 in the 2018 Northeast Conference Championship Game. He finished his college career batting .300 with 14 home runs and 77 RBIs in 165 games. He slashed .346/.493/.531 during his senior year.

“It was cool being the first to ever do something with guys who you’ve been through so much with,” Turner said. “We were very bad my freshman and sophomore year at LIU. It was my third coaching staff we’ve been through. There was a lot of turnover, a lot of negativity so to overcome all that with the guys that I’ve been through so much with them and to be the first to ever do something was very cool.”

His performance all season earned him a draft upgrade of one round. The Marlins picked Turner for the second time but in the 39th round.

Turner felt that he was going to get drafted again but the fact that it was the Marlins once again was the shocker.

“I thought for sure that I was going to be another team,” Turner said. “More teams were on me my senior year because I’ve been drafted the previous year. I thought for sure maybe I burned a bridge or somebody else would pick me up sooner and sure enough it was the Marlins. So it did come full circle.”

Turner spent his first pro season with the Gulf Coast League Marlins, a rookie level squad that plays their plays in the backfields of spring training facilities. It may come as a surprise to anyone that this league actually exists. There’s no team website, only the league website, no marketing involved, no ticket prices, hell, no seats. I may sound great to be able to just walk in and watch a free game but it at times look like you’re not supposed to even be there, feeling more like a trespasser than a spectator. Now imagine how it must feel for the players who went from playing in the NCAA Tournament to that.

“I was playing in a regional in front of 6-7,000 people and in a week later you’re playing in front of seven people probably,” Turner said. “It’s very different, took some getting used to. I would say the biggest adjustment honestly was the heat, learning how to survive when bringing out two or three pairs of batting gloves, two or three different pairs of shirts just so you can stay dry on the field. But besides from all that it was good. I think it’s a fresh reminder that it’s not back to the drawing board but you’re back at the bottom and you got to work your way back up.”

In a sense, Turner and Marlins are on the same path. Both the prospect and the team are simultaneously working their way towards the top.

“Coming to the Marlins now, it’s very familiar,” Turner said, “It’s almost like we’re doing the exact same thing I did at LIU.”