Trea Turner has been ‘cautious’ stealing bases since returning from a hamstring strain

Since 2018, only one player in baseball has stolen more bases than Trea Turner. It’s glaring, then, that the Phillies shortstop had attempted only four steals in seven weeks since returning from a hamstring strain.

Turner maintains that he isn’t injured. But he isn’t uninhibited, either.

“He is healthy. OK, let’s put that out of the way,” manager Rob Thomson said Tuesday before the Phillies opened a two-game miniseries with the last-place Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. “But he is a little bit — I don’t know if the word [is] tentative, but cautious. He doesn’t want this to happen again.”

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To refresh: Turner missed six weeks earlier in the season with a strained left hamstring. It marked the first time in his career that he went on the injured list with a soft-tissue injury.

Given how much Turner relies on his speed, he has been careful about pushing too hard.

Thomson has tried to rest Turner whenever possible, too. Turner has started all but two games since returning. It was notable, though, that Thomson didn’t use him as a pinch-runner in the ninth inning of a one-run game July 31 against the Yankees.

“I’ve seen it from a lot of guys that have calf, quad, hamstring injuries,” Thomson said. “It takes them a while to be really confident that they can turn it loose and not reinjure themselves. That’s where he’s at, really. But he is healthy.”

It hasn’t helped that Turner has been slumping since the All-Star break.

Going into the break, Turner was batting .349 with a .948 OPS and was trending in the direction of another batting title. (He won the National League batting crown in 2021.) But he was 16-for-91 entering Tuesday night, dropping his average to .301 and his OPS to .815.

The problem is familiar for Turner, who has been swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. He had 19 strikeouts in 21 games through Sunday.

“It’s a lot of offspeed, a lot of chase pitches,” Thomson said. “He’s got to see the baseball a little bit better and eliminate the chase and force them into the zone, take his walks, that type of thing.”

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There isn’t any mystery about the first four hitters in the Phillies’ batting order. As long as they’re healthy, Kyle Schwarber, Turner, Bryce Harper, and Alec Bohm — in that order — will occupy those spots.

But Thomson has used eight players in a revolving No. 5 spot.

For now, at least, Bryson Stott is getting a chance against right-handed starters even though he’s barely batting .200 since the middle of May. Stott’s .347 slugging percentage entering Tuesday would be the lowest mark of his career. But his knack for making contact is appealing to Thomson in the middle of the order.

“He’s going to put the ball in play, and theoretically in that five spot, you’re going to have runners on base and you need somebody to put the ball in play,” Thomson said. “That’s where my head’s at right now.”

Ranger Suárez threw 36 pitches in two simulated innings against reserve outfielders Weston Wilson and Cal Stevenson, the latest step in his return from a sore lower back.

Next up: Suárez will start in triple A or another simulated game Sunday before “potentially” rejoining the rotation during an Aug. 23-25 series in Kansas City, according to Thomson.

“The benefit of going to Lehigh [Valley] is the competition,” Thomson said. “The benefit of doing it here is we can control the [innings] and we can control the pitch count to get his pitch count up so that potentially his next [start] is with us. Potentially.”

Suárez hasn’t started since July 22. He has a 2.87 ERA in 119⅓ innings over 20 starts.

Thomson reiterated that the Phillies could use a six-man rotation for a few turns once Suárez comes back, which would build in additional rest for Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Suárez, and Cristopher Sánchez before the postseason. A stretch of 22 games in 23 days from Aug. 20 to Sept. 11 would be an ideal time to use six starters.

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Bohm extended his on-base streak to 30 games with a fourth-inning walk. It’s the longest streak by a Phillies player since Schwarber reached base in 31 consecutive games in 2022. ... With Taijuan Walker returning from the injured list, the Phillies optioned reliever Yunior Marte to triple A. Marte gave up seven runs Saturday in Arizona, inflating his ERA to 7.13. … After getting removed from the 40-man roster last week, first baseman Darick Hall and righty Nick Nelson cleared waivers and were outrighted to triple A. Right-hander Max Castillo cleared waivers and was released. … The Phillies promoted right-handers Seth Johnson and Moisés Chace to triple A and double A, respectively. The pitchers were acquired from the Baltimore Orioles at the trade deadline for lefty reliever Gregory Soto. … Outfielders Dante Nori and Griffin Burkholder, the Phillies’ first- and second-round picks, were promoted to low-A Clearwater. ... Tyler Phillips (4-1, 4.83 ERA) will start Wednesday night against Marlins righty Edward Cabrera (2-3. 5.20).