What if the Phillies’ most impactful addition was a resurgent Trea Turner? He’s working to make it happen.
Don’t count on a difference-making hitter being available at the trade deadline. But the Phillies might have one right under their nose if he can get back to his MVP contender form.
Trea Turner hit a pitch off the facing of the warehouse in left field in San Diego in back-to-back games last week, and everyone was convinced he finally smashed his slump, too.
Still, something gnawed at him.
“Those two homers,” Turner said the other day, “were balls. I had to chase them, basically, to hit homers, which is not necessarily a good thing.”
That’s the kind of season it’s been for the Phillies’ $300 million star shortstop.
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Among 166 hitters with at least 150 at-bats entering the weekend, Turner ranked 152nd in on-base percentage (.276) and 146th in OPS (.624). Even when the results are positive, the process often feels imperfect in the restless mind of the reigning National League batting champion.
So, Turner has been getting to the ballpark early to take extra swings with hitting coach Kevin Long. And he often stays late, sometimes going back into the batting cage for postgame work.
Hitting is about rhythm and timing, but also controlling the strike zone and not missing your pitch. Turner, who has the second-most hits of any player in the last 10 years, is searching for all of it.
Yet he remained a .294 career hitter with a .228 batting average through Thursday. So, not even those homers in San Diego dissuaded the Padres from intentionally walking Kyle Schwarber twice this week to pitch to Turner.
“I got here and got to where I’m at from just working hard,” Turner said. “I always feel like I can find the solution. I always feel like there is a solution. And if I work hard enough, I’ll find it.“
Imagine if he does.
The Phillies are back in the wild-card picture after the 9-19 start that got their manager fired. But the offense is among the worst in the majors, with a .291 on-base percentage and a .679 OPS. They recently went two weeks without scoring more than four runs in a game; they’re averaging 3.9 runs per game, tied for 28th out of 30 teams.
“We’ve struggled offensively,” said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “We know we need to get better. We’re all working toward that. But I think there’s definitely room for improvement in our offense. And I think everybody feels that way.”
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Specifically, there isn’t enough production from the right side of the plate to offset the lefty-hitting Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and Brandon Marsh. The trade deadline is still eight weeks away, on Aug. 3. Dombrowski said the market hasn’t taken shape yet, although scouts from multiple teams guessed in recent days that it may not contain a difference-making hitter.
In that case, what if the Phillies could add the top-five finisher in last season’s MVP race who happens to be right under their nose? What if Turner, who turns 33 at the end of the month, is able to recapture the elite level that he achieved only last year?
“I think we count on Trea being Trea,” interim manager Don Mattingly said. “And honestly, I think if we look at this club, I mean, if we’re going to get to where we want to get to, Trea has to be a big part of that. And that’s not putting undue pressure, like this is all on Trea. But Trea’s going to have to be Trea.
“Trea’s going to get going. He’s going to be fine.”
Keep swinging
In 2024, after the Phillies scored 12 runs in four games in a division-series loss to the Mets, Turner took stock of the offense with this lament: “Personally, I think we get ourselves out.”
As much as anyone, he was talking about himself.
Turner swung at 26% of pitches out of the zone in his first seven major league seasons. His “chase rate,” in hitting parlance, climbed to 34.7% in 2023 and ‘24 with the Phillies.
Before last season, the Phillies moved Turner into the leadoff spot. But not before Long and then-manager Rob Thomson challenged him to better control the strike zone. They also wanted him to hit more balls the other way to right field.
Turner, as intelligent and self-aware as he is talented, bought in and had his best year since 2022.
Among his biggest frustrations so far this season: “I feel like I’ve hit the ball decently hard the other way, and there’s just been like no hits over there. That’s a big deal for me.”
To wit: In the seventh inning last Sunday in Los Angeles, Turner scalded a two-strike pitch to right field — right at the Dodgers’ Kyle Tucker — and spiked his helmet.
“I feel like, a lot of this year, if I do things wrong, [it’s] bad; if I do things right, not that great,” Turner said, chuckling. “They always say it evens out, which … it doesn’t. But at some point, you want to kind of believe that.
“And that’s what I’m talking to the hitting coaches about. I make a lot of adjustments and try a lot of things, but I feel like, if I find the right adjustment, I should be able to see some success pretty quickly and have something to build on. And there haven’t been a lot of infield singles, haven’t been a lot of bloop singles, or doubles, or line drives, two-strike hitting. There’s nothing really to build on going into the next day.”
Turner’s solution: Keep swinging.
“He takes 200 swings before we even get out on the field,” said Larry Bowa, the World Series-winning former Phillies shortstop who, at age 80, works with the infielders before home games. “I’ve even told him, I said, ‘Man, you’re hitting too much.’ He goes, ‘I’ve got to get back in the groove.’
“Believe me, he’s his own worst critic. He wants to do well. He feels he’s disappointing the team.”
Not like 2023
Turner has been through this before. Worse, actually.
In 2023, his first year with the Phillies, he was batting .235 with a .290 on-base percentage and .657 OPS through 107 games. Over his last 48 games, he hit .337 and reached base at a .389 clip, with 16 homers and a 1.057 OPS.
Surely, then, he can find his way out of another hole.
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“My at-bats are better this year than that year,” Turner said. “I feel like my approaches are better. That year, I had some bad at-bats. I was chasing some really bad pitches, and it felt like I did it for a long time. I started off that year not leg-kicking, just no stride, and I think that kind of hurt me a little bit.
“That’s what’s frustrating about this year. I don’t feel like that, and the numbers are probably worse.”
Turner is sticking with his process anyway. Instead of reverting to old habits and pulling everything to left field, he’s focused on hitting balls the other way.
But he’s also expanding the zone too often. Through Thursday, his swing rate on non-strikes was 35.7%, up from 31.2% last season. And he’s keenly aware of it, even when it works out in his favor.
Take the May 26 game in San Diego. Two innings after swinging at a sinker above the zone and launching it out to left field, Turner fell behind 0-and-2, worked the count full, then fished for a low cutter for a one-out single to center.
“I end up getting a hit and it’s nice, but I still make that one decision where it’s like, I should have walked,” Turner said. “And that’s where I’m trying to get to. I want the swing to be in a good spot to where I’m not focusing on my decision-making. I’m just trusting myself.
“That’s kind of how I view it. And that’s why I work on my swing a lot. I feel like, if I’m in a good spot and I can see the ball and make decisions, then my swing’s going to come out and I’ll have the success. Just trying to get to that spot.”
Mattingly thought it might help to slide Turner down to the No. 2 hole between Schwarber and Harper. Maybe it’ll make a difference. Maybe not. It can’t hurt.
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But it’s undeniable that Turner is capable of carrying an offense. At his lowest point in 2023, the Phillies were 59-51. They went 31-21 the rest of the way to claim the NL’s top wild card.
“We’ve got the big boys in Schwarb and Harp, but when Trea gets on, we’re a very good offensive ballclub,” Bowa said. “When he’s not, sometimes we struggle for runs. Trea seems to be the guy that ignites us.
“I expect big things from him moving forward because he’s too good a hitter to be hitting what he’s hitting.”
Chances are, Turner is better than any hitter who will be available at the deadline.
“The most important thing is getting to the playoffs and playing well in the playoffs,” he said. “Would I like to play good today? Yes, obviously. But just keeping that in focus, keep winning games, and then it’ll eventually turn and I’ll find it and we’ll be good.”
With 60 years in professional baseball — 41 of them with the Phillies — Larry Bowa is back at spring training. The 1980 World Series shortstop, former coach, and manager joins The Inquirer’s Scott Lauber to talk about top prospect Aidan Miller, Trea Turner’s future at shortstop, the Phillies’ title hopes, and more. Watch here.
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