.302/.355/.487.
That was Trea Turner’s career slash line prior to joining the Phillies ahead of the 2023 season.
A .302 career batting average. A .355 on base percentage. A .487 slugging percentage.
Can you imagine what the Phils’ offense would be like if that Trea Turner ever made it to Philadelphia?
After another 0-fer, this time a hitless day in five plate appearances on Wednesday, Turner’s spiraling 2026 season sends him to Anaheim this weekend with a .291 OBP that ranks 127th out of 138 qualified
MLB players, a .671 OPS that ranks 131st, and a 0.7 fWAR that is 123rd. According to Baseball Reference, his bWAR is -0.2.
Frankly, I believe the bWAR number to be the more accurate one.
In his last 16 games, he’s hitting .152 with a .243 OBP and an OPS of .471. He has struck out 18 times and walked seven times. He is 0-for-his-last 17 and his defense has fallen into a black hole again.
He did reportedly have a conversation with former Seattle star Ichiro Suzuki last week, so I guess that’s somethin’!
Since he became a Phillie three years ago, Turner’s slash line is .277/.327/.443.
He can still run, at least.
Far too often, Bryce Harper has come to the plate this season with the bases empty in front of him. While Kyle Schwarber has struggled a bit in since the All Star Break (.211/.335/.453 slash line), he and his season-long .358 OBP isn’t the problem. After Wednesday’s 6-0 win over the Mariners, Don Mattingly was asked if there has been any consideration about moving Turner down from his No. 2 spot in the lineup, given his on-base deficiencies (quotes via On Pattison).
“Yeah, it’s kind of like the same for me. Kinda of what we’ve been doing is where we’ve had success. We’ve been consistent,” Mattingly continued. “I think we all know that Trea’s gonna come out of this. And when he does, it’ll be hot.
“You see it with Schwarb. We’ve seen it with Harp. You see it with Arraez, had a few days there where it was not good. You just gotta hang in with guys over the course of a season. And if there’s a point where it’s like, ‘OK, this has gotta go,’ then you get there. But right now, for me, I don’t know why we’re gonna … it feels like panic. It feels like to guys it’s panic when you start making changes like that late in the year.”
Mattingly is trying to pump up his veteran shortstop and show he still has confidence in him. I get that. But moving Turner out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup would not be a “panic” move. Nearly five months of the season have been completed. Waiting until 80% of your season is done to move a player with the 11th-worst on-base percentage out of a high leverage spot in the lineup isn’t “panicking.” One could argue, it’s long overdue.
And frankly, if Mattingly had another option, he probably would have made it by now. He can see what everyone else sees. Trea Turner has been a bad baseball player this season and should be hitting lower in the lineup.
But were Mattingly to do that, who hits in between Schwarber and Harper?
On its surface, Bryson Stott makes the most sense. Since the start of June, Stott’s OBP is .387. He is one of the best on the team at getting on base, he doesn’t strike out much, and can provide some pop at the top of the lineup. He’s also athletic enough to steal a base here and there and, more importantly, go first-to-third or second-to-home with the boppers in the lineup hitting behind him.
But Stott is left-handed. Were he to hit in between Schwarber and Harper, with left-hander Luis Arraez hitting fourth and Justin Crawford hitting in the No. 9 hole, it would put five straight lefties in the lineup. In the regular season against a non-ace, right-handed pitcher, that may not be a big deal. But it’s not a formula that will work in the postseason. Teams will load up left-handed relievers against that run of lefties, making life very difficult on the lineup.
To be fair, Turner’s presence in the lineup hasn’t helped much against left-handers, and Stott is hitting .295/.380/.442 with an .822 OPS against left-handers this year, a massive improvement of an area of weakness throughout his career. Turner, meanwhile, is batting .213/.303/.311 against left-handed pitching. Both players have reverse splits, although Turner’s numbers against everyone, no matter which hand they throw with, are awful.
So if a change were to be made, Stott is probably the answer, especially against right-handed starters.
But a right-handed hitter would be ideal in order to break up the lefties. So if not Turner, who?
Alec Bohm has certainly come on over the last few weeks, but he would be ill-fit to hit in the No. 2 spot in the lineup. His at-bats have been better over the last few weeks, but he’s far better suited to hitting in the bottom half of the lineup. Bohm is simply not a long-term, October solution. J.T. Realmuto’s OBP has been sub-.300 all season long (.298 currently), so no upgrade there, and while Bryan de la Cruz and Derek Hill are contributing as part-time platoon players, you’re not putting either of them at the top of the lineup no matter how well they’ve hit of late.
So, unless you want to make Stott the No. 2 and have a parade of left-handers at the top of the lineup, hoping adjustments are coming from Turner is still probably Mattingly’s best bet.
On the latest Hittin’ Season podcast, I discussed the Trea Turner situation and recapped an interesting series against the Mariners in Seattle by the Phillies.
