Brian Craig Turang (born June 14, 1967) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

, who played for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) in 1993 and 1994.

Career

Turang attended

Millikan High School Robert A. Millikan Senior High School is a high school in Long Beach, California, United States, administered by the Long Beach Unified School District. It is located near the intersection of Spring Street and Palo Verde Avenue in the Los Alto ...

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

where he was third team All-

CIF Southern Section The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) is the governing body for high school athletics in most of Southern California and is the largest of the ten sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Federation (CI ...

as a catcher in 1985. Turang played college baseball at

Long Beach City College Long Beach City College (LBCC) is a public community college in Long Beach, California, United States. It was established in 1927 and is divided into two campuses, the Liberal Arts Campus (LAC) in Lakewood Village and the Trades, Technology, an ...

and

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

. He switched to playing the outfield and second base at Long Beach City College. In two years at Loyola Marymount, he hit .332 and led the team with 15 home runs in 1988. After his first season at Loyola Marymount, the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

drafted Turang in the 20th round of the 1987 MLB draft, but he did not sign professionally. Turang played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the Fairbanks Goldpanners in the

Alaska Baseball League The Alaska Baseball League (ABL) is an amateur collegiate summer baseball league based entirely in southern Alaska. Players in the league must have attended one year of college and must have one year of NCAA eligibility remaining. In the past, ...

in 1987, being named second-team all league, and the

Harwich Mariners The Harwich Mariners are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Harwich, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Mariners play their home games at Whitehouse Fiel ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

in 1988. The Seatle Mariners drafted Turang in the 51st round of the 1989 MLB draft. He made his professional debut that summer with the

short-season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (crea ...

Bellingham Mariners The Bellingham Mariners were a Minor League Baseball team in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, based in Bellingham, Washington. The club served as the Seattle Mariners' short-season affiliate from 1977 to 1994. History Major League Ba ...

, leading the team in on base percentage, triples, and times hit by pitch. He was the

leadoff hitter In baseball, a leadoff hitter is a batter who bats first in the batting order (baseball), lineup. It can also refer to any batter who bats first in any inning. Strategy Traditionally, the leadoff hitter has been utilized as a contact-oriented ...

the night of Alex Rodriguez's MLB debut. His only major league home run was off

Jimmy Key James Edward Key (born April 22, 1961) is an American former left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Toronto Blue Jays (1984–1992), New York Yankees (1993–1996), and Baltimore Orioles (1997–1998). His best ...

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

on April 20, 1994. After leaving the Mariners organization after the 1995 season, Turang played in 37 games for the Triple-A

Syracuse Chiefs Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

in the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

minor league system.

Personal life

Turang's wife Carrie played college softball at

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), also known in athletics as Long Beach State University (LBSU), is a public teaching-focused institution in Long Beach, California, United States. The 322-acre campus is the second largest in the ...

, playing in the

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...

(WCWS). They have five children. Their youngest, Brice, was the

' first round selection in the

2018 MLB draft The 2018 Major League Baseball draft began on June 4, 2018. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was determined based on the reverse order of the 2017 MLB season final standings. In addition, compensation pi ...

, made his MLB debut in 2023, and won a Platinum Glove award in 2024. The Turangs' daughter, Brianna, played softball and soccer for the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

, where she won the 2013 WCWS and was named to the 2012 WCWS all-tournament team. In college, she met her husband, professional football punter Tress Way. The Turangs have three other daughters, Carissa, Cabria, and Bailee, who also were college athletes. Carissa played softball at

Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

and

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...

and soccer at

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...

. Cabria played soccer at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

Bailee played volleyball at

Southern Nazarene University Southern Nazarene University (SNU) is a Private university, private Church of the Nazarene, Nazarene university in Bethany, Oklahoma. History The history of the institution is one of various mergers and, therefore, one of differing institutions ...

. The family was featured on an episode of the 2005 NBC reality television show Meet Mister Mom. Turang operated a baseball and softball training center in

Corona, California Corona (Spanish language, Spanish for "Crown") is a city in northwestern Riverside County, California, United States, directly bordering Orange County, California, Orange and San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino counties. Its curre ...

, where he trained Brice to hit.

References

External links

Baseball Cube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turang, Brian 1967 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Long Beach, California Bellingham Mariners players Calgary Cannons players Harwich Mariners players Jacksonville Suns players Loyola Marymount Lions baseball players Major League Baseball outfielders San Bernardino Spirit players Seattle Mariners players Syracuse Chiefs players Tacoma Rainiers players Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players Millikan High School alumni