Phillies Have Major Trea Turner Problem To Address

Through 22 games and 101 plate appearances, he has a .198/.267/.275 slash line with one home run, four doubles and zero stolen bases. He has improved his walk and strikeout rates, but those are the only positives to his performance at the plate in August.

While things are approaching rock bottom for the veteran shortstop, this has been a trend throughout his tenure with Philadelphia. Before he signed with the franchise, his OPS was .842 in his career. In his Phillies career, his OPS is .768, dropping his career number to .813.

Right now, the average OPS in the MLB is .719, which Turner is well below. He has produced a .671 OPS through 129 games and 574 plate appearances, which ranks him 125th out of 138 qualified hitters this season, per FanGraphs.

Given his struggles, interim manager Don Mattingly has to think long and hard about changing up his batting order. Despite his struggles, Turner still leads the MLB with 531 at-bats this season.

It is hard to fathom keeping someone who is struggling as much as Turner is in the No. 2 spot of the batting order. There are other players who are performing at a much higher level, and it could take some pressure off him being lower in the order.

What makes this such a difficult situation for Philadelphia is that it isn’t only with the bat that Turner is struggling. He has regressed in a major way defensively, with his 20 errors being the most in the MLB.

His -13 Total Defensive Runs Saved is tied for the fourth-worst mark in baseball with Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Nick Gonzales. His Fielding Run Value of -9 is in the third percentile, as his is -9 Outs Above Average.

Despite the clear struggles, Turner still ranks 31st in the MLB with 1,095.2 innings played defensively. Mattingly has made it a point to get Bryce Harper rest late in games with defensive replacements, and he should strongly consider doing the same with Turner.

Phillies need to move Trea Turner down in batting order at minimum

With the addition of Luis Arraez, Mattingly has more pieces he can mix and match in the infield. Bryson Stott is a capable shortstop defensively and should get some looks there, along with Edmundo Sosa getting a few more opportunities.

A reset could be exactly what Turner needs, as he is riding another ugly streak, going 0-for-5 in back-to-back games on the heels of consecutive 0-for-4 showings.

Alas, something needs to change. The Phillies cannot continue trotting him out there as an everyday player given how much he is struggling in every facet of the game.

Sign up for our free newsletter to receive the latest news and updates!