Do your Yankee friends try to make fun of you because the Mets have added so many Yankees over the last two years? Wear it with pride and remind them at in addition to all the major league players who are playing in Queens, the Mets stole a player out of the Yankees farm system via the Rule 5 draft back in December.
Matt Turner signed a minor league contract with the Yankees in early December only to get snatched by the Mets less than a week later.
Turner was drafted by Cleveland in 2017 out of high school. Over seven minor league seasons he’s pitched in 130 games totaling 283 2/3 innings with a 4.79 ERA and 1.502 WHIP. He had a strong season before the pandemic, putting up a 2.81 ERA over 73 2/3 innings in 2019. Since then it’s been rough. In his last season with Cleveland he ha da 5.91 ERA over 35 innings across three different teams.
Matt Turner than signed with an independent league team and put up an impressive 2.44 ERA over 48 innings in 2024. He then pitched in the Mexican league with a 1.53 ERA over 17 2/3 innings. This lead the Rockies to take a chance with last season he pitched 56 innings with a 5.79 ERA and 1.661 WHIP.
Now the Mets will see what Matt Turner can do this spring. Turner is one five lefties in camp that are not on the 40-man roster yet. I’ll be watching spring games to get a sense of his pitch mix, it’s been difficult to find online. This scouting report was written when he was drafted. Back then he had a mid-80’s fastball, low-70’s changeup and low-70’s curveball.
Matt Turner is only one season removed from success in the independent leagues and in Mexico. Two organizations, the Yankees and the Mets, were interested in him this year. With the Mets recent track record with pitchers (using a record 46 pitchers in 2025 alone), there is a solid chance that if Matt Turner stays healthy, he’ll up for a cup of coffee at some point this season.
