The Phillies are planning to activate shortstop Trea Turner from the 10-day injured list before Monday’s game against the Padres, manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Matt Gelb of The Athletic) earlier Sunday.
Turner has been on the shelf due to a hamstring strain since the beginning of May.
The return of Turner to the Phillies lineup should serve to further bolster a team that has emerged as a juggernaut in the first half of the 2024 campaign.
The Phillies have stormed to an NL-best 47-23 record with excellent production on all fronts. They sport the third-best pitching staff in the majors this year by ERA with a 3.11 figure that sits behind only the Yankees and Orioles, while their 110 wRC+ on offense is tied for sixth in the majors with the Brewers.
That they’ve managed to do all that without their star shortstop for the past six weeks is all the more impressive, particularly given the hot start Turner got off to before his injury.
In 33 games before his trip to the IL, Turner was slashing an incredible .343/.392/.460 (145 wRC+) with 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts. That lengthy stretch of success extends back to the All-Star break last year.
Turner had scuffled through his first half-season in a Phillies uniform with below-average numbers across the board but caught fire down the stretch to help lead the club to its second consecutive NLCS appearance.
Since mid-July last year, Turner’s .309/.363/.522 slash line is good for a 142 wRC+ that is 17th best among all major league hitters and trails only Mookie Betts, Bobby Witt Jr. Gunnar Henderson, Corey Seager and Jose Altuve among middle infielders.
That type of production will surely be a welcome addition to the Phillies lineup. While the club’s infield mix of Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott and Edmundo Sosa have all performed very well this season, adding Turner’s potent bat back into the lineup should provide a shot in the arm for the offense in Philadelphia.
The return of Turner appears most likely to come at the expense of Sosa, who has performed phenomenally as a fill-in at shortstop while the star has been on the shelf. Sosa has slashed an excellent .280/.343/.512 in 138 trips to the plate this year, including a .286/.348/.524 slash line since taking over the everyday shortstop job while Turner has been injured.
That sort of strong production is hard to remove from a lineup, although it’s worth noting that Sosa has slumped in June with a lackluster .216/.256/.324 slash line in 39 trips to the plate.
With Turner re-entering the fold, Sosa figures to return to his bench role as a contributor around the infield as a backup to each of Bohm, Stott and Turner. His sensational .340/.426/.723 slash line against left-handed pitching seems likely to earn him regular playing time against southpaws even with the team’s lineup returning to full strength.
Speculatively speaking, Sosa could spell Stott, who has hit just .250/.357/.333 against same-handed pitching this year, at second base against some lefties.
Perhaps he could even work into the outfield mix, where he has made brief cameos in both left and center field during his time with the Phillies.
The Phillies will need to move a position player off their active roster on Monday to accommodate the return of Turner. Of note, only outfielder Johan Rojas has options remaining among the club’s current bench mix, which also includes fellow outfielder Christian Pache and veteran utility man Whit Merrifield.
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