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Trea Turner hasn’t produced at the plate. At least he’s starting to produce on the basepaths.

Trea Turner is in his first season with the Phillies. (Cheryl Pursell)

When adding up how much money to offer Trea Turner this offseason, Philadelphia Phillies brass must have factored in the old baseball truism that “speed never slumps.” This was one of the top speedsters in the league, after all, a guy who had some writers deliriously predicting that, with the new rule changes going into effect this season, he could steal a “ridiculous” amount of bases. No matter how cold Turner’s bat might get, he’d always be able to manufacture runs with his legs, right?

Maybe not.

At least, it didn’t appear that way at first.

Through the first two months of the season, Turner was slashing a paltry .236/.280/.371 — numbers far below his career averages of .297/.350/.478. But not only was he coming up futile with the bat, he wasn’t producing with his legs, either. He’d only attempted seven stolen bases through the first two months of the season. He sat 47th in the league in steals, third on his own team. The fact that he happened to succeed on all seven of his attempts only went to show that his blazing fast speed was still there, he just wasn’t using it.

But then the calendar flipped to June, and Turner seemed to remember who he was.

After two months of remaining idle on the base paths and practically refusing to run, he finally started taking more chances. Maybe he decided that — with the Phillies sitting 25-30, mired in fourth place in the NL East and buried in the Wild Card standings — he could no longer afford to be so cautious on the base paths. Or maybe he simply got tired of keeping one of the biggest weapons in baseball tucked away in the barn, so to speak.

Either way, he ended up stealing 11 bases in as many tries last month. There were three games in which he stole two bases apiece — all Phillies victories. He is now up to 19 stolen bases on the year, putting him on pace to finish the season with 35. That would be his highest total since 2019 with the Washington Nationals.

“He’s been more aggressive as of late,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said after Turner stole his 18th base of the season. “Early in the season he wasn’t getting on base much. He’s getting on base a little bit more now, and he’s starting to run and create some energy and create some opportunities, so that’s good.”

Thomson doesn’t want Turner to overdo it, however. He worries that stealing too many bases might put unwarranted wear and tear on Turner’s frame. “The thing we don’t want him to do is run too much and then he bangs his body up and he’s out of the lineup. So we’ve just got to make sure we carry a really good balance there,” he added.

Turner himself is on record as saying he doesn’t want to steal just for the sake of stealing. He’s the type of runner who likes to pick his spots, preferring to save his stolen base attempts for when he feels they can have the greatest impact on the game — and the season.

“I always want to score runs,” Turner told MLB Network during Spring Training, while discussing how many stolen bases he might have this year. “So however many stolen bases we need as a team to score those runs, I think that’s [what’s] important to me. But it’s just being efficient and taking what they give us.”

Turner’s production on the basepaths has coincided with better team play overall. Since June 1, when Turner’s base stealing surge began, the Phillies have gone 23-11, a half game out of the final Wild Card spot in the NL. After averaging 4.15 runs per game through May 31, the offense has averaged 5.09 runs in June and July. Turner’s base running seems contagious, too; the team averaged 0.64 stolen bases per game prior to June 1 and 1.03 stolen bases after. On the season, they are 11-5 when Turner steals a base and 37-35 when he doesn’t.

The most encouraging part is that, even in his age-30 season, Turner does not appear to have lost a step. His sprint speed of 30.3 feet per second still puts him among the top five runners in the sport

. His speed might be down a tick from his career-best years of 2015 and 2021, when he was recorded at a league high 30.7 feet-per-second, but it still puts him in the 99th percentile. He has also yet to be caught on the basepaths, making him the only runner in all of baseball with more than 10 stolen bases who remains perfect.

Say what you want about Turner’s performance at the plate. Despite some glimmers of hope, he has yet to break out of the season-long slump he’s been in, and he’s still slashing just .247/.299/.389. He’d be the first to tell you that he has yet to earn the huge contract he signed this offseason, at least not with his bat. Even his mom has criticized his performance. But over the last five or six weeks, he has at least started to earn part of that contract with his legs.

Granted, he remains way off the pace being set by the Oakland Athletics rookie sensation Esteury Ruiz and Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, who have a ridiculous 43 and 41 stolen bases respectively. One or both of those players could be the first to steal more than 80 bases in a season since Rickey Henderson (93) and Vince Coleman (81) did it in 1988.

Turner is, however, moving up the stolen base leaderboard quickly. Since the start of June, he has gone from 47th to a tie for 14th. If he continues to run as proficiently as he did in June, he could easily steal 40 bases on the season. He might even flirt with 50.

As long as it helps the team continue its winning ways without sacrificing Turner’s health, Thomson and the Phillies will take whatever he can give them.

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Matt McAllister

Matt is a contributing writer for Phillies Nation. He grew up in King of Prussia in the 1980's and '90s and is a lifelong fan of all Philadelphia sports teams. He received his Bachelor's degree from Syracuse University and his Master of Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.