The Tigers went with high school right hander Jacob Turner. Turner went to Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis and Baseball America has him ranked as the top high school right hander in the draft. He is advised by Scott Boras and is said to be seeking Porcello money and he’s got that commitment to North Carolina in his back pocket as well.

Tyler Matzek was the higher rated prospect on many boards, but Jim Callis reported on MLB’s draft coverage that he was looking for unprecedented money. Even though they didn’t go for Matzek, the Tigers didn’t exactly go with a signability pick.

Keith Law had Turner ranked 7th overall and said he second only to Stephen Strasburg in terms of consistent velocity.

There is a conference call at 8:25 and I’ll add more to this report as I spend some more time googling (notes are below the video now). In the mean time here is a nice profile piece that paints a very favorable picture and some video of Turner at work.

Conference Call Notes

Some notes from the conference call with David Chadd and Jacob Turner:

• Chadd: Has been following Turner since last June on the showcase teams as well as the spring. Turner meets the profile for the organization (excellent athlete, lots of power, fastball up to 96, control of all his pitches, strong make-up)
• Turner: As a baseball fan he knows about the Tigers but wasn’t worried where he’d be drafted and was focusing on his season.
• Chadd: Thinks the delivery is sound with clean arm action and 3 pitch mix. He doesn’t anticipate much tinkering and is real high on his make-up.
• Turner: All spring he viewed North Carolina as Plan A. Now he’s viewing the Tigers as another option.
• Chadd: The draft was quite unsettled, right up until their pick, but they were excited when Turner was available.