The Phillies offense has seen a resurgence in August, with hitters up and down the lineup experiencing hot streaks and putting together better at bats in general, resulting in Philadelphia having the best on-base percentage in baseball for the month. However, one player that has mostly been left out from that newfound success is Trea Turner.
Turner had his best month of the season in July, hitting .287 with an .897 OPS, but he has cratered in August. The Phillies shortstop entered play yesterday slashing
.209/.281/.291 with 18 strikeouts in 21 games so far this month. He hasn’t experienced the rising tides of the Phillies recent offensive output, as Turner is hitting .175 with a .492 OPS since the Field of Dreams game that marked the start of the Phillies’ nine game winning streak that has since come to a close.
Don Mattingly was asked about Turner potentially being moved down from the second spot in the lineup before yesterday’s game and downplayed the idea. From On Pattison’s Tim Kelly:
“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.”- Don Mattingly to On Pattison’s Tim Kelly
Of course, the first issue that comes from dropping Turner is finding someone to replace him in the second spot in the order. Luis Arraez would likely be the first name to come to mind, as he’s almost exclusively batted fourth in the Phillies unconventional order. He could theoretically move to second with Turner then moving to fourth or even lower with the resurgent Alec Bohm going to fourth, although Turner dropping much lower than fourth seems highly unlikely. But Bryce Harper has excelled with Arraez hitting behind him and it seems to have reawakened his patience with his walk rate in August soaring to 18.3%. It may not be worth the tradeoff of possibly disrupting the comfort that has seemingly taken hold with Harper hitting third and Arraez hitting fourth.
The other potential downside to dropping Turner is the Phillies run the risk of having a long run of left-handed hitters in a row with Kyle Schwarber and Harper at the top and the likes of Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh, and Justin Crawford rounding out the lineup. They could conceivably end up with four to five lefties in a row as the bottom of the order blends into the top.
Either way, the Phillies need more from Turner than they’re getting right now. His season numbers will not end up where he or anyone else wants them, but it’s not too late for him to have a positive impact on a pennant race. Both sides need to find a way to get him going in the right direction. So, should the Phillies drop Trea Turner in the lineup?
