Mark Calvi has no problem adding Will Turner’s name to “the list.”

What list, you ask? The list of the top defensive center fielders he’s coached in a three-decade career, first as an assistant at Florida International and South Carolina, and for the last 12 years at South Alabama.

Though he was somehow left off the preseason All-Sun Belt team, Turner is a preseason third-team All-American according to Baseball America. He and the Jaguars open the 2024 season on Friday at home vs. North Alabama in the South Alabama Invitational.

“I’m not saying he’s the best, but he is in the top five in a 30-year sample at FIU, South Carolina and here,” Calvi said. “There’s been some damn good guys that have played center field for me as an assistant and a head coach.

“His anticipation is crazy. He knows where everyone’s at. He knows where the wall is. He knows when he has to dive, when he has to slide. He calls off middle infielders on pop flies. His reads, his instincts in center field are just something that you can’t teach.”

The list includes Jackie Bradley Jr., an All-American at South Carolina who later became a Gold Glove winner and World Series champion with the Boston Red Sox. It includes Cole Billingsley, a two-time NCAA Gold Glove winner with the Jaguars who once went 151 straight games without committing an error.

And it includes Travis Swaggerty, a two-time All-Sun Belt performer at South Alabama who was a first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2018. It’s lofty company indeed.

“No. 1, I’m honored to be even in the conversation with them,” Turner said. “I want to get to the position that Jackie Bradley is in. I want to play in the big leagues for 10 years. Taking defense and (batting practice) so seriously here, I think has helped me a ton.

“I always played other sports growing up, and (focusing on baseball in college) kind of helped me be able to track the ball and run the right routes to the ball and get good jumps. I’ve just become so much more of a clean defender — not making silly mistakes, getting better jumps. The big thing I attribute to that is BP, taking BP seriously and just translating that to the game.”

Turner also excels at the plate, having posted a .349/.460/.591 slash line with 17 doubles, four triples, nine home runs, 52 RBIs, 51 runs and 10 steals last season, when he earned second-team All-Sun Belt honors for a poor Jaguars team. The junior from Auburn has started all 108 games in his South Alabama career, hitting .279/.391/.423 with eight doubles, four triples, five home runs, 36 RBI, 44 runs scored and 13 stolen bases as a freshman in 2022.

Seeking to further develop as a hitter, Turner spent last summer playing for the Brewster WhiteCaps in the wood-bat Cape Cod League. Facing many of the top pitchers who will be eligible for the 2024 MLB draft, Turner made the league’s all-star team, and batted .295 with a .415 on-base percentage in 33 games.

“It was awesome,” Turner said of the Cape Cod League. “I really enjoyed it. It was the purest form of the game that I’ve played and being able to face guys like that, seeing 93 to 100 (mph pitches) every day pretty much. It was super fun, super competitive and it gave me a confidence boost, really.”

This will likely be Turner’s last season in Mobile. Like former Jaguars outfielders Swaggerty and Ethan Wilson — who played mostly left field — before him, he’s expected to be an early round pick in the MLB draft after his junior season.

Turner is among three Sun Belt Conference players on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 draft prospects for 2024, checking in at No. 84. Also on the list are Louisiana shortstop Kyle DeBarge (61) and Coastal Carolina catcher/first baseman Derek Bender (93).

“He controls the strike zone and makes consistent contact from gap to gap with some occasional pull power,” Turner’s scouting report reads in part. “… His instincts enhance his range in center field and he should be able to stay there at the next level.”

Turner said he’s not letting any high expectations set by his draft potential get to him, though.

“I think pressure is a privilege and I think that the people that don’t see it that way are the ones that tend to fold under the pressure,” Turner said. “I’m here right now at South Alabama and my job is to play here and help my team win and do everything I can to be a good teammate here. We want to take this team to Omaha (for the College World Series), that’s kind of been our, our thing. We want to be the first team to go in school history.

“The draft stuff is awesome, but it’s gonna happen when it happens. I just know that if I just go out here and play ball with my guys and enjoy this last year of school and do everything we can to help the team win, then I’ll get what I deserve.”

Turner teams with fellow junior Joseph Sullivan — the grandson of Auburn football legend Pat Sullivan — to give South Alabama two of the top outfielders in the Sun Belt. While not as polished defensively, Sullivan is as good or better than Turner at the plate, having hit .304/.485/.591 with 13 homers, 44 RBIs, 46 walks and 20 steals in 2023.

With his credentials and skill set, the fact that Turner is still at South Alabama is something of an upset. The transfer portal has devastated non-power conference teams in baseball as it has in football and basketball, and Turner admits he was tempted to make the leap.

“I had the opportunity to transfer and go other places in SEC and ACC,” Turner said. “That was a very hard, long day whenever all that happened. But I decided to stay here because of coach Calvi; he was the guy that took a chance on me when nobody else wanted me and he’s always been honest. I’ve been able to be myself here. I wanted to leave a legacy here at South. I didn’t want to be the guy that got too big for his britches and left.”

Instead, he’s elected to make one last stand with his South Alabama teammates. The Jaguars are looking to bounce back from a 23-31 finish last year, when they failed to qualify for the Sun Belt tournament for the first time since 1985.

And though Turner opted not to leave South Alabama, the Jaguars took advantage of the transfer portal to add a much-needed talent infusion. New to the team this year are second baseman Brennan Holt (Oklahoma State) and four starting pitchers: right-handers Cade Carlson (East Tennessee State) and Carson Swilling (Auburn) and lefties Cam Hill (also Auburn) and Eli Zielinski (Jacksonville State).

“We’ve got a new group of guys, a bunch of guys out of transfer portal that are going to help us a lot, especially on the pitching side,” Turner said. “Having a good rotation is the key for us, I think. It’s something we missed last year. We lost a lot of games in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. So I think we’ll be in better position to win those games this year.”

First pitch for South Alabama vs. North Alabama is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday at Stanky Field.