NERD Game Scores: Nik Turley Debut Event

Devised originally in response to a challenge issued by sabermetric forefather Rob Neyer, and expanded at the request of nobody, NERD scores represent an attempt to summarize in one number (and on a scale of 0-10) the likely aesthetic appeal or watchability, for the learned fan, of a player or team or game.

How are they calculated? Haphazardly, is how. An explanation of the components and formulae which produce these NERD scores is available here. All objections to the numbers here are probably justified, on account of how this entire endeavor is absurd.

Most Highly Rated Game
Minnesota at San Francisco | 16:05 ET
Turley (MLB Debut) vs. Cain (64.2 IP, 119 xFIP-)
After pitching brilliantly at both Double- and Triple-A this season, left-hander Nik Turley is expected to make his major-league debut this afternoon for the Minnesota Twins. Drafted originally by the Yankees in 2008, Turley has been employed by Boston, San Francisco, and Somerset (of the independent Atlantic League) in the meantime. Signed by the Twins as a minor-league free agent this past offseason, Turley has now recorded strikeout and walk rates of 41.2% and 7.4%, respectively, over roughly 50 innings. That performance has earned him a place atop the arbitrarily calculated Fringe Five Scoreboard curated by the present author.

If his minor-league starts are any indication, Turley will throw a combination of fastball and curveball almost exclusively. The former sits in the low 90s and he often works it to the top part of the zone to complement the latter one. Both sorts of pitches are featured in what follows — namely, video footage documenting some of Gleyber Torres’s whiffs against the Turley from last Tuesday.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: San Francisco Radio or Television.

Another Brief Note
Today’s Free Game
Today’s free game features New York NL at Atlanta, starts at 13:35 ET, and can be accessed by means of this hyperlinked text.

Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete and also sortable table for all of today’s games. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and the rest of the internet. Note that calculations both for team and game NERD scores feature adjustment for postseason odds that increases as season progresses. Read more about those adjustments here and here.