Trea Turner’s first spring with the Phillies makes him look underpaid, even at $300 million

Bryce Harper hit .310 with eight home runs and 16 RBIs in spring training with the Nationals in 2017. That’s the closest anyone in the Phillies’ clubhouse has come to matching what Trea Turner did in his first spring as a Phillie.

In his 14 games — six at the World Baseball Classic and eight with the Phillies — Turner batted .435. He hit seven home runs with 18 RBIs.

It’s the best preseason performance since career minor-league catcher hit Chris Coste hit .463 with three homers and 11 RBIs the year he broke into the bigs as a 33-year-old rookie. Coste’s first contract with the Phillies paid him $385,000 to hit .328. Coste was underpaid.

» READ MORE: Trea Turner is ‘Philadelphia’s next Chase Utley’: Charlie Manuel evokes Phillies legend

Turner’s first contract with the Phillies pays him $300 million. Turner, too, might be underpaid.

“He looks amazing. He’s been fantastic,” said Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

Turner’s seven other springs have landed all over the spectrum. He has hit less than .200 twice and had three other mundane springs, but he has surged, too: He hit .314 as Harper’s teammate in 2017 and .333 last year with the Dodgers, but he’s never been this good this early, to the delight of new manager Rob Thomson.

“It’s been incredible. It seems like he never makes an out,” Thomson said. “Just keep him right there. Box him up. And send him to Texas.”

The Phillies open at Texas on Thursday. That’s when Turner, a 29-year-old going into his eighth full season, will start caring about his results.

“Yeah. It was fun. Doesn’t mean a lot. Feel like I’m in a good spot. Ready to go,” Turner said as he picked out sunglasses for the trip. “If I’d come in and hit .050, I’d hope to have this same attitude. Thursday, everything goes to zero.”

How has Turner acclimated himself so quickly?

» READ MORE: Baseball is speeding up in 2023, and new Phillie Trea Turner shows no signs of slowing down

Well, for one thing, he spent his first four seasons playing with the guy in the locker next door, Harper. And Harper spent the last two years lobbying for the Phillies to either trade for Turner — he landed with the Dodgers in July 2021 — or to sign him this offseason. Turner agreed to an 11-year deal.

He’s off to a flying start.

Dombrowski has been building teams for 34 years, but he’s never seen anything like this.

“I’ve had players who’ve had unbelievable springs, hit nine or 10 home runs,” he said. “But to have the spring he’s had, going to a new club? It’s hard for me to remember anything like this.”

Big springs usually happen for veteran minor-leaguers trying to make a club. They wind up facing young pitching, play at 100 mph every game, get into a groove, and mash. That’s what happened this spring with 30-year-old outfielder Jake Cave, a waiver-claim who led the Phillies’ offense from the first pitch of spring.

Monied All-Stars like Turner usually ease into proficiency, but Turner found himself in a big-market spotlight ... and, curiously, comfortable. Beyond Harper, Turner reunited with former Nationals hitting coach Kevin Long. He and Schwarber, everybody’s big brother, both made the last two National League All-Star teams. And moving into a new market with a high payroll wasn’t a big deal, having done it previously when he was traded to the Dodgers in 2021.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Bryce Harper says he might have to DH all season, but ‘Caveman’ is hot

“Having past relationships helped a lot,” Turner said. “Getting traded in the past helped, too. Coming here doesn’t feel so ... foreign. The first time was a little weird for me.”

Harper isn’t surprised.

“He goes into every situation ready to play. He plays to the best of his ability,” Harper said. “And his ability is really good.”

Indeed: So far, so, so good.