Nik Turley vs. Matt Cain, 3:05 p.m.

Aside from Ervin Santana, the Twins' starting rotation coming out of spring training is in disarray. And the Twins have so little depth that they have recalled 2 starting pitchers and placed them back in the rotation after they had lost their spots due to ineffectiveness. And that was before June.

Thanks to Hector Santiago's sore shoulder, the Twins were forced to find another starter. The Twins decided not to go with Chris Heston, who they recently claimed off waivers, or even try to stretch out Tyler Duffey, who has pretty much been the Twins' best reliever, and instead called up Nik Turley.

What is a Nik Turley? On the surface, this appears to be a lot like a lot of the Twins' desperate moves this season that haven't worked out so well, like a spot start by Nick Tepesch (who was released off the 40-man to make room for Heston) or calling up Jason Wheeler or Drew Rucinski to be fresh arms for the bullpen or even claiming Heston. Turley is a former 50th-round draft pick that the team signed as a nondescript minor league free agent in the offseason, so bringing him up just would seem to be another callup of a replacement-level arm for a team desperate to find rotation help.

However, he's put some numbers in the minors that make him more intriguing than the typical minor league free agent. What's most noticeable is a sudden surge in strikeouts. Turley was drafted in 2008 and has never put up big strikeout rates (or even more than 1 per inning) until last year, when he suddenly struck out 48 in 35 2/3 innings. However, that was when he pitched almost exclusively out of the bullpen in AA, so the Red Sox weren't overly impressed and let him leave as a free agent.

The Twins assigned him to AA despite being pretty old for that level (he'll be 27 on 9/11) and he made a couple relief appearances before moving into the rotation. He instantly impressed with 5 hitless innings in his first start, then he really opened some eyes when he struck out 14 batters, including a Southern League record 8 in a row, on April 25. The Twins then immediately decided to move Turley up to Rochester to provide a bigger challenge.

Turley again made a couple scoreless relief appearances before moving into the rotation. In his first start on May 16, he struck out 9 batters in 4 scoreless innings. The Red Wings continued to stretch him out over his next few outings before it all came together on June 6 when Turley struck out 15 batters in 6 innings, meaning 15 of the 18 outs he got were on strikeouts, and 14 of those Ks were swinging. He also struck out the first 9 batters he faced.

Of course, the big question is where did this come from? As far as I can tell, he hasn't added a pitch or switched to an unusual pitching motion. Turley is 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds, so he is tall and thin and throws over the top with a compact windup that is reminiscent of David Price. Turley, unfortunately, doesn't have Price's velocity.

He doesn't have an unusual repertoire. He throws a big curveball and a slider to go along with his fastball. A story on him from 4 years ago talked about his curveball and changeup and didn't mention a slider, so he might have scrapped his changeup and added the slider.  Turley's recent surge might be him just maturing and figuring out how to pitch.

It's doubtful that Turley is going to continue to be so dominant at the major league level. However, Turley deserves a chance to prove he belongs at this level and the Twins have no other viable options at the moment. Maybe whatever magic or luck the Twins have used to propel them to a 2.5-game lead 1/3 of the way through the season will continue with Turley.

The timing is right for Turley to make his debut. The Giants are dead last in MLB in OPS+ at a woeful 75. Plus, the Twins have won 3 in a row and have already clinched a series win and a winning roadtrip, so the pressure is off for Turley. Of course, when a 50th-round draft pick reaches the major leagues, the pressure is already off.