Phillies shortstop Trea Turner's stunning turnaround
Not too long ago, an article was written on this site that posed the question of whether Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner was a waste of $300M in free-agent spending. It was a fair question at the time considering Turner's on-base percentage had plummeted below .300.
It's safe to say the writer of that article has been eating crow for the last few weeks. Turner has experienced a resurgence in the month of August. His latest heroics came Tuesday night with a two-run walk-off single that gave the Phillies a 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants.
On Aug. 4, when the Phillies returned home after a particularly egregious seven-game road trip for Turner, his batting average was down to .235 and his on-base percentage sat at .290. 25 years ago, Turner would have returned home to a crowd of less than 20,000 at Veterans Stadium eager to hurl profanities and projectiles at him.
But this is a new generation of Phillies fans. There were no boos to be heard, and no one came armed with batteries. Instead, a generous audience at Citizens Bank Park gave their struggling shortstop a standing ovation.
Turner responded that night with his first RBI in almost three weeks. The next night, he came through with his first home run in nearly a month.
Baseball-Reference says that since his standing ovation, Turner is batting .353 with a .389 on-base percentage. His overall average is up to .251, and his OBP is currently .303. In addition to his walk-off hit on Tuesday, Turner hit two home runs in the eighth inning of the Phillies' 12-3 win last Saturday in Washington. He became just the third player in Phillies history with two homers in an inning, and the first since Von Hayes in 1985.
Even at his lowest point, Phillies fans had the feeling that Turner would eventually come back around. He's too talented a player to struggle for that long. With the playoff push nearing the home stretch, his rejuvenation couldn't come at a better time for the Phillies.
More must-reads: