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Canfield’s Turocy enjoying breakout season with Class-A Greenville
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Turocy
By Joe Scalzo
The best hitter on the Class-A Greenville Drive arrived about a month late this season.
He almost didn’t arrive at all.
After a tough rookie season in 2011, Canfield High graduate Drew Turocy entered spring training with the Boston Red Sox with something to prove.
“And I thought I did,” he said.
But when the Red Sox handed out minor league assignments, Turocy’s name wasn’t on it. Instead, he stayed in Fort Myers, Fla., for extended spring training, the baseball equivalent of purgatory.
“When the rosters came out and I wasn’t on the Greenville squad, I was a little frustrated because I thought I deserved it and I thought I earned it,” said Turocy, a 24th-round pick out of Akron in the 2011 draft. “I had a good spring in my eyes and in their eyes, based on what they were telling me.
“When I didn’t make it, it was kind of a moot point. I thought about it and asked myself, ‘Is this [pro baseball] what I want to do?’ I reached that low.”
It lasted one day.
“After that I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to play my game in extended and see what happens,’” Turocy said.
Turocy kept playing hard, a couple Greenville outfielders got hurt and “it opened a window,” he said. “I didn’t know if I’d be there for one week, two weeks or the rest of the year. But I’ve been able to open their eyes a lot.”
Through 30 games, Turocy leads the Drive (34-36) in batting average (.373 — 48 points higher than the team’s next-best hitter) as well as on-base percentage (.406). He’s also third on the team in slugging percentage (.466) and OPS (.872).
“Honestly, I’ve just been feeling real comfortable at the plate,” he said. “I’m seeing the ball well and I’m not trying to do too much. Just a simple approach — hit the ball hard and put it in play.
“So far, good things have happened.”
After a standout college career with the Zips, Turocy struggled last summer with the Lowell Spinners of the New York-Penn League. He batted .228 in 49 games with just five extra-base hits in 162 at-bats. He was facing better competition than he’d seen in college and was battling a few injuries.
But his biggest struggle was mental, he said, which was a big reason why his numbers dipped toward the end of the season.
“I think I finished 0-for-27 and that can do a lot of damage to your batting average when you’ve only got 150-160 at-bats,” he said. “I couldn’t wait to finish the season.”
A year later, the question of whether Turocy will last the season at Greenville is a positive one. His batting average would lead the league if he had enough at-bats to qualify and he’s now getting asked if he thinks he’ll get moved up before the season ends.
“That’s not really for me to say,” said Turocy, who was back in Ohio on Monday and Tuesday thanks to the South Atlantic League’s all-star break. “I don’t have time to worry about that. You can start getting into that game where you say, ‘Oh, I’ve gone 10 for my last 12, so I think I’m going to get called up soon.’ And if you don’t, you get disappointed.
“I just have to go out and play my game and keep hitting like I know how to hit. If it’s in the cards, it’s in the cards.”