Trea Turner turned in a very Trea Turner season
Coming off an unlikely World Series run in 2022 in which Goliath, played by the infamous Astros of Houston, defeated the scrappy band of Davids from South Philly, the Phillies were eager to bring aboard a player who could serve as a difference maker and provide that last push needed to bring home the final trophy of October. It came in the form of Trea Turner, arguably the best of four shortstops on the market during that offseason. He was an All-Star shortstop and Silver Slugger Award winner who went into free agency after one-and-half seasons with the Dodgers. Turner appeared in the World Baseball Classic and was an offensive monster during the tournament, going yard five times including a game winning grand slam against Venezuela.
His first season as a Phillie is its own story and has been told a million times over. But here’s a quick recap for those of you who just tuned in: Turner sunk into a long slump, his mom booed him, redemption arc, Netflix documentary. Nothing that all of us haven’t been through at one point or another, right?
But this is his 2024 story.
2024 stats: 121 G, 539 PAs, .295/.338/.469, 21 HR, 62 RBI, 46 XBH, 3.9 fWAR, 124 OPS+, wRC+ 124
The Good
Comparing his 2024 offensive stats against his career numbers, you’ll notice he performed just as well as he did during most seasons prior to signing with Philadelphia. The Phillies got from Trea Turner exactly what they paid for.
Career stats (average per year): .296/.348/.481, 25 HR, 82 RBI, 42 XBH, 121 OPS+, wRC+ 122
Turner came out of the gate hot in 2024. In April he batted .361 with an OPS of .907. He led the team in hits at 43. The next closest was Alec Bohm with 37, followed by Bryce Harper with 23. Turner stole eight bases, twice as many as anyone else on the team.
He saw pitches well and, for the most part, was selective at what he swung. For the season his called strike rate was a career low 12.5% (tied with his own 2023 season), and his lowest called+swinging rate at 25.6%.
During April, over the course of 119 at bats he struck out only 21 times.
Let’s skip over May and most of June for a moment.
As the calendar flipped to July, the dog days of summer sapped the offensive prowess the team enjoyed during the spring months, marked by a change in performance during A’s series just before the All-Star break.
But not Turner. In July, while Bryce Harper struggled (Harper batted .149 with a .598 OPS), Trea Turner posted the highest slash line on the team – .292/.340/.604.
In August his bat cooled, hitting .250, but it reignited in September as he rebounded to a respectable .280.
His strike out rate for the season was 18.2%, almost even with his career rate of 18.5%. And his hard hit rate was a respectable 40.2%, down from a high of 46% in 2021 but still right in line with his career average of 40.9%.
The Bad
On May 3rd the Phillies hosted the Giants. Turner was on second base when a pitch got past catcher Tom Murphy in the fourth inning. Turner took off for third, and seeing the Giants were not moving with any sense of urgency, he ran to home. Pitcher Jordan Hicks bolted to cut off Turner at the plate – Murphy tossed the ball to Hicks, Hicks snagged the ball from the air and swung his glove across the plate just as Turner slid into home. Turner managed to barely get in under the tag. But when he got to his feet he limped to the dugout.
There was a collective sigh of relief when it was revealed to be a hamstring injury instead of something much worse, but it was enough to sideline him for the remainder of May and a significant part of June.
His walk rate was the lowest of his career at 5.0%, compared to a career average of 6.8%. If you watched any games and judged solely on the eye test, you probably picked up on this without needing to look up the stats.
As far as his defense at shortstop, Turner’s performance was less than stellar.
Turner’s Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) is -1.2, below average but not awful. But his Defensive Runs Scored for the season was an abysmal -14, the worst on the team. Yet FanGraphs lists his Defensive Runs Above Average (DEF) as 2.1, slightly above average.
According to the eye test, his defense for the season finished at a firm, “come on, dude, you can do better than that.”
The team’s propensity to chase and the Mets’ understanding how to take advantage of that glaring flaw resulted in a 2024 postseason that ended much too soon for the Phillies. While Trea Turner did his fair share of chasing, he wasn’t as free-swinging as the rest of the team. He worked counts, he showed discretion, but not enough to make a difference, and certainly not enough to make up for the shortcomings of his teammates.
The future with the Phillies
Remember when Trea was the shiny new thing we were all exited about, back before we kneeled beside our bed each night and promised God we’d stop [insert your vice or serial crime here] if only he’d give Philly one little old Juan Soto? Well, there are nine years left on Trea’s eleven-year $300 million contract. God may respond to your prayer by bringing you a couple of pitchers and telling you to appreciate the Trea Turners you already have.
Turner is a near .300 hitter with speed and is a serviceable shortstop. He can be streaky, but no more than anyone else in the majors.
He’s a Phillie for the foreseeable future.
And that’s good for Philadelphia.