Phillies news and rumors 9/8: After an insane turnaround, Trea Turner is in the midst of a rare season for the Phillies

Trea Turner is in his first year with the Phillies. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)

When the Philadelphia Phillies signed Trea Turner to an 11-year, $300 million contract, the expectation was that the team, especially the lineup, would feel his impact immediately. Turner had turned into one of the game’s best shortstops in recent years and was coming off back-to-back seasons in which he hit 20-plus home runs, 30-plus doubles and scored 100-plus runs.

After agreeing to come to South Philly, there was some talk about Turner potentially putting together an MVP season this year. He was joining an already deep lineup that was coming off a run to the World Series and included Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper. The two-time All-Star was set to make the Phillies a fully-loaded lineup.

Unfortunately, the middle infielder didn’t live up to the hype. Instead, he got off to a slow start that seemingly never ended. In three of the season’s first fourth months, he posted an OPS south of .700. June was the only month he had a combined on-base and slugging percentage above that mark.

Turner was offering at a lot pitches outside of the strike zone, resulting in a lot of swings-and-misses and subsequent strikeouts. He was also struggling to hit fastballs, a pitch-type he had plenty of success against in previous years.

All of those struggles continued to pile on and Turner seemingly hit rock bottom in a game on Aug. 2 in South Florida against the Miami Marlins. He went hitless in five at-bats that night and whiffed on a seemingly routine ground ball that allowed a game-tying run to score in the bottom of the 11th inning. The Marlins would win the game an inning later in the 12th.

After that game, Turner took batting practice in the cages near the Phillies clubhouse at LoanDepot Park for over an hour. He also spoke to the media, and upon answering questions stated, “I feel like, obviously, I’m the reason why we lost the game, so [I’m] just frustrated, but I only know one thing and that’s to keep working.”

The tone of his voice that night seemed off. He looked as though he was a little lost and defeated.

After seeing that, Phillies fans decided to do something seemingly never done before in the city of Philadelphia. They were going to cheer for a struggling player, hoping it would help him out.

Upon the Phillies return to Philadelphia on Aug. 4 in a game against the Kansas City Royals, fans gave Turner standing ovations before each of his at-bats, which he thought was pretty cool. He not only had an entire clubhouse behind him, but now, an entire fan base and city.

That night, entering play with a .235/.290/.368 slash line, he lined an RBI single into right field in the sixth inning against Kansas City. The following night, he sent Citizens Bank Park into a frenzy by launching a go-ahead, three-run home run in the sixth inning after more ovations.

If there was ever a moment when a player felt like the entire world was lifted off their shoulders, that home run trot for Turner was probably it. But he didn’t stop there.

Turner continued to heat up throughout the month and left all of his struggles in the rearview mirror. His August OPS (1.043) was the third-best in a single month in which he made at least 100 plate appearances during his career, while his nine homers are a new single-month career-high.

He also had a franchise-record-tying five-game home run streak between Aug. 28 and Sept. 2. And, over his last seven games, Turner has swatted seven homers.

Altogether, in 28 games between Aug. 4 and Sept. 4, Turner had the seventh-highest batting average (.362), 24th-best on-base percentage (.395) and second-highest slugging percentage (.767) among qualified hitters in that time frame. He more than doubled his home run total — he went from 10 to 22 on the season — and posted a 2.1 fWAR (FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement) during that span, the third-highest mark among big leaguers.

After that 28-game stretch, Turner is now hitting .262/.311/.450 this season. He also has 30 doubles, five triples, those previously mentioned 22 homers and 25 stolen bases, joining a rather short list in Phillies franchise history.

There have only been three players before Turner to put together a year with at least 30 doubles, five triples, 20 home runs and 25 stolen bases during the Modern Era (1900-now) for the Phillies. Juan Samuel completed the feat back in 1987. Bobby Abreu (1999, 2000 and 2002) and Jimmy Rollins (2006, 2007, 2009 and 2012) are the only players to do so more than once.

It’s the first time Turner has accomplished such a season in the big leagues.

In a season that couldn’t have started any worse, Turner is now on a rather special list with some special players in Phillies history. Samuel, who was also a first and third base coach for the Philadelphia between 2011 and 2017, was inducted into the organization’s Wall of Fame in 2008. Abreu was inducted in 2019. And one day, Rollins, who has the most hits in Phillies franchise history (2,306), will be inducted, too.

Turner, placed on the paternity list Tuesday, announced the birth of his second son, Tatum, on Thursday. He’ll likely be activated before Friday night’s series opener against the Marlins. And he’ll be looking to continue his extremely impressive turnaround.

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