Yunior Tur was a low-profile signing this year by the Oakland Athletics that could pay dividends for the team in the long run. The team has lent the hard-throwing righty to the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League this season to let the hurler work on his craft. The hurler has the makeup and repertoire to climb his way to the big leagues and might just be the bargain the team was hoping for when they signed him last year for 100 K.
Yunior Tur was considered the island’s best closer when he left Cuba in 2021, before signing with the Oakland Athletic. Armed with a 96 Mph heater and a few good off-speed pitches this signing might just bear fruits. The right-hander from Santiago de Cuba had a brief run through Rookie ball before the team decided to promote him to Class Stockton. In two games with the AZL Athletics the Cuban posted a 1.59 ERA and struck out six in five innings.
Tur (23 years old) had a 3-1 record, with a 2.11 ERA, in 38.1 innings with Santiago de Cuba in the Serie Nacional during the 2021 season, he also fanned 45 batters and saved 14 games that year as the team’s closer. In 2020 he did not allow a run in 22 innings pitched and saved nine games. In total this year Tur has a 2-2 record, 6.03 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 37 ⅓ innings.
Los 5 cubanos que jugarán en la @MLBazFallLeague este año.
RHP Josimar Cousin (Glendale Desert Dogs)
3B Bryan Ramos (Glendale Desert Dogs)
RHP Yunior Tur (Mesa Solar Sox)
OF Lázaro Armenteros (Mesa Solar Sox)
RHP Orlando Ribalta (Scottsdale Scorpions) pic.twitter.com/6VyT0OsKbB
— Yusseff305 🇨🇺🇺🇲 (@yusseff305) September 23, 2023
Tur said this to me when I spoke to Jim earlier this year about the game in the US as opposed to Cuba,”It’s different in almost everything, in Cuba you practice to play, here you practice to develop. Here they develop you a lot as a pitcher and the training regiment is way different.”
He had this to say about his goals stateside,”The first objective when one leaves Cuba is to sign with a big league organization. Thank God I was able to accomplish that feat. I feel indebted to the organization for that. My goal here is to climb the organizational pyramid until I reach the majors.”
The team in particular has not told me what I have to specifically work on there, just to showcase my talents. My goal is to go and do the best I can in every outing I have. But here in the Instructional League we have worked on a new pitch that we incorporated and on my mechanics. We have worked a lot on my mechanics and my rhythm. We have worked on my exit angle on the arm as well,” said Tur to us yesterday.