PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Trea Turner found Bobby Dickerson a few hours before Saturday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s happening?\u201d Dickerson asked his shortstop.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s do some hand work today,\u201d Turner said to his infield coach.<\/p>\n
So, a few minutes after 1 p.m., Dickerson put foam kneepads on the grass while Turner strapped a paddle to his left hand. He had made an error Thursday, which prompted the request. Turner did some drills, then did them again barehanded. He took full infield practice at a high intensity.<\/p>\n
He started the bottom of the first inning in Saturday\u2019s 6-1 Philadelphia Phillies win over the New York Mets with an infield single. He scored on Kyle Schwarber\u2019s home run. He smacked a solo homer in the fifth inning, walked and stole a base in the sixth inning, then singled again in the seventh. His OPS is .663, the highest it\u2019s been since May 6.<\/p>\n
And he made an error on a routine ball in the second inning.<\/p>\n
MLB cracks down on using AI in dugouts<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like when I try to be perfect, it just kind of sets me backwards,\u201d Turner said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve just got to be who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was talking about his hitting, not his fielding, but it\u2019s all connected. Turner is the $300 million shortstop with a target because he\u2019s a $300 million shortstop. The Phillies are a flawed team, and Turner is not their greatest flaw. But he plays shortstop, he bats first, and there are certain expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he\u2019s going, it seems like it gets a lot easier for us offensively,\u201d Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. \u201cIt puts speed on bases. It puts them in pressure spots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turner answered questions for almost six minutes about his offensive and defensive struggles. For the last 20 games, he\u2019s slashed .302\/.337\/.523. Maybe he is emerging from the muck. But it is easy to overlook the recent success because his season numbers are never going to look like they should. His play at shortstop has declined; Turner will turn 34 during the 2027 season, and it\u2019s not unreasonable to suggest the Phillies must already think about his future position.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople outside of here are always going to say things or do things or whatever,\u201d Turner said. \u201cIt\u2019s finding a way in here to fix things or find answers. That\u2019s what I\u2019m focused on. I don\u2019t really care what anybody outside of here says.\u201d<\/p>\n
The noise is getting louder \u2014 and it\u2019s not just external.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course,\u201d Dickerson said. \u201cYou can\u2019t not hear it. When you hear, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re last than this, or you\u2019re last than that. Worst year of his career, whatever.\u2019 Whatever you\u2019re hearing, yes, it bothers you. I mean, this guy\u2019s a competitive guy. You don\u2019t get the contract he got without being a competitive, really good player. All that stuff bothers him, and I\u2019m sure he hears the noise. My message is the same: As long as he\u2019s our shortstop, he\u2019s our shortstop. I believe in my heart he can maintain playing shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies in years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
No one doubts Turner\u2019s work ethic. No one doubts his physical gifts. No one has questioned his accountability. But Turner, for all of his athleticism, is a thinker. The Phillies would love it if Turner could turn it off for a little bit and just play. He is still that talented.<\/p>\n
The routine ball, the one that Turner has the most time to think about, is his challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just know that his reads are a little bit off at times,\u201d Dickerson said. \u201cBut at times, they\u2019ve been incredible. So he\u2019s played some really, really good major-league defensive shortstop games. But he\u2019s had some pretty routine letdowns at times. And he\u2019s hard on himself about those.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, if anything, that\u2019s probably the biggest thing. He gets so down and hard on himself. He beats himself to death. And if you think of self-esteem and self-confidence, when you\u2019re not confident in anything you do, you\u2019re going to be a little hesitant. Anything. You\u2019re a little bit hesitant in really trusting how to finish this play. I think that\u2019s it. He\u2019s just a tick inconsistent with his reads this year and just not trusting what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reality is Turner has always been an offensive shortstop. If his OPS started with an eight, everyone would be more willing to look past some defensive lapses. He had, by fWAR, the most valuable season by a Phillies position player since Chase Utley in 2009. He won the club\u2019s first batting title since 1958.<\/p>\n
But Turner is a symbol for everything that annoys people about the Phillies. Dating to Game 3 of the 2023 National League Championship Series, when the fate of the entire franchise changed, Turner is 9-for-51 with zero extra-base hits and a .422 OPS in 13 postseason games. That sticks with people.<\/p>\n
He was 15-for-30 with eight extra-base hits in his first eight postseason games with the Phillies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not the prettiest player or whatever you want to call it,\u201d Turner said. \u201cI don\u2019t do everything perfect. I just find a way to help the team. \u2026 It might be a swinging bunt. It might be chasing a ball off (the plate) and hitting the double down the right-field line. Who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Phillies have done organizational deep dives in recent weeks on the entire infield \u2014 not just Turner. Entering Saturday, the Phillies had allowed a .289 batting average on groundballs. That is the highest for any team since the 2017 Detroit Tigers (.293). That team lost 98 games.<\/p>\n
Turner has to be better. By any measurement \u2014 errors, outs above average, defensive runs saved \u2014 he has regressed from a season ago. That season, for now, looks like an outlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year I had a great year, and now that\u2019s like all washed,\u201d Turner said. \u201cIt\u2019s however you want to interpret it. It\u2019s obviously in there. Everything is on me. I always take full blame. Maybe I\u2019m not getting the same balls I was last year that helped me. It doesn\u2019t feel like I\u2019m getting nearly as many backhands and things that I was really, really good at last year. It feels like the opportunities are a lot more scarce this year, and then some of the plays that I\u2019ve gotten have been tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Phillies should contend in October with or without an effective Turner. But the whole thing would feel so much steadier with him. He said he did not think about baseball during the All-Star break. He\u2019s homered in both games since the break. He\u2019s committed an error in both games since the break. He wanted the extra pregame work with Dickerson.<\/p>\n
He has to feel comfortable with his place in this whole journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can force guys to come out, and if they go through the motions, there\u2019s nothing gained,\u201d Dickerson said before Saturday\u2019s game. \u201cBut everything he did today was total purpose, total commitment. And I am not saying that that means he doesn\u2019t make a mistake in the game today. What ends up happening over the long haul, if holding yourself to a high standard like that in your work becomes the norm, then it\u2019s going to pay off. And it showed last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turner made a mistake, and it did not define his nine innings on Saturday. He\u2019ll try it all again Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Trea Turner found Bobby Dickerson a few hours before Saturday\u2019s game. \u201cWhat\u2019s happening?\u201d Dickerson asked his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,480,99],"class_list":["post-771919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}