Trea Turner gets right to work rebounding from ‘brutal’ defensive showing in Year 1 with Phillies

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Two-thirds of the way through last season, Trea Turner was batting .237 and striking out almost as often as he got on base. Rock bottom? That would’ve been Aug. 2, when he stayed back after a 12-inning loss in Miami to take late-night swings in the cage.

Yeah, it was bad.

And his defense was even worse.

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It spoke to the depths of his struggle at the plate that Turner’s play at shortstop didn’t come under greater scrutiny. In his first season with the Phillies after signing an 11-year, $300 million contract, he ranked among the worst defenders at the position based on both the tried-and-true eye test and less trustworthy metrics.

“Brutal,” he said Friday, offering a blunt self-evaluation. “It wasn’t good.”

So, it only seemed apropos that Turner spent most of his first spring-training morning on the half-field adjacent to the Phillies’ clubhouse. With a glove on his left hand and fresh red cleats, he took a few dozen grounders to his forehand and backhand from shouting infield coach Bobby Dickerson.

“Attaboy!”

“There you go!”

“[Heck] yeah! Kill it!”

Turner went through these drills on that field last spring, too, but left early in camp to join Team USA for the World Baseball Classic. Upon returning, he had only about a week to get ready for the season, not much time to cram in extra work with Dickerson.

Dickerson and longtime Phillies shortstop Larry Bowa will have a full spring with Turner this year. And Turner said he intends to redouble his commitment to being a better defender.

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“I don’t think I’m the best fielder in the world, but at the same time, I don’t think I’m the worst,” he said. “I think I can improve there vastly. Not even based off last year. Just off my career numbers, I think I’m a better fielder than I have been. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to put the numbers up or you’ve got to make things happen.”

When the Phillies signed Turner to the second-longest contract in club history, they expected that he may have to eventually switch positions, a common occurrence for shortstops as they age. The San Diego Padres announced Friday that Xander Bogaerts, Turner’s classmate in last year’s free-agent shortstop group, will move to second base this season.

To be clear, the Phillies aren’t mulling a change for Turner, who doesn’t turn 31 until June 30. But he did rank 12 runs below average among shortstops last season, based on Sports Info Solutions’ defensive runs saved. He converted five outs below average, according to Statcast. Only Amed Rosario rated worse than Turner in both categories.

Defensive metrics have come a long way over the last half-decade but still can be inexact. From experience, Turner is skeptical. Two years ago, he thought he was having a good defensive season for the Los Angeles Dodgers but graded poorly by the metrics.

“I asked my agency why, and the Dodgers as well, and basically all I needed to do was move in three feet,” Turner said. “I didn’t play any better or worse, and I was a way better player [according to the numbers]. It’s just kind of whatever the algorithm likes or whatever you’re willing to sacrifice for those things.

“You can ask a lot of people in baseball — I have — and they don’t even know. I think it’s kind of dumb when you’re following a stat that nobody knows what it is.”

But Turner knows the metrics didn’t lie last season. And improving in 2024 will depend on more than positioning.

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Turner said he’s focusing on “a little bit of everything,” but especially his footwork to achieve better balance in the transfer from his glove to his hand before he makes a throw.

Dickerson suggested Turner also had lapses in focus last season. Turner alluded to struggling with his confidence. Spring training is a time to establish better habits and build a foundation.

“I feel like I was trying almost too hard at times,” Turner said. “Some of that’s good when you’re trying and you’re thinking about things and you’re working on things, but then sometimes you’ve got to forget about it all. Just probably wanted to do too much. I can definitely do better.”

At a minimum, the Phillies want Turner to be more consistent, his signature trait until last season. At the plate, for instance, his performance in almost every statistical split — home vs. road, righties vs. lefties, leading off vs. batting second — was nearly identical.

But Turner’s first season with the Phillies was marked by extremes. Through 480 plate appearances, he batted .235/.290/.368 with 10 homers. Over his final 211 plate appearances, he hit .337/.389/.668 with 16 homers.

Turner’s defense ebbed and flowed, too.

“My goal is to make as many plays for those pitchers as possible and get them out of innings,” Turner said. “I don’t care if it’s an out I’m supposed to make or not supposed to make. That’s real subjective. For me, I want to make outs. That’s how I look at it. I want to complete plays.”

More than he completed last season, no matter how you calculate it.