TAMPA -- Phillies manager Rob Thomson had a talk with Trea Turner before the season started about performance and expectations.
Don’t worry about hitting home runs, Thomson said.
Just get on base.
Thomson wanted Turner to hit more, walk more, run more and score more runs. He thought a .380 on-base percentage, 40 stolen bases and 100 runs scored seemed like realistic goals. Turner homered, singled, scored twice and knocked in two runs in the Phillies' 7-0 victory over the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Wednesday night, helping the club clinch a fourth consecutive series win.
Turner is batting .307 with two homers, 13 RBIs, a .375 on-base percentage and a .769 OPS this season. His walk rate (8.3 percent) is his highest in a full non-pandemic shortened season since 2018 (9.3 percent).
“I feel like in the past, I made contact so even if I swung at a bad pitch I put it in play,” Turner said. “And then I’ve always felt like where I’ve hit in lineups in my career, there’s somebody bigger and scarier behind me. So I feel like I’m ready to hit. They’re going to come attack me. I think the game has changed a little bit. It doesn’t really matter who you are. They kind of just want you to chase overall. I guess just accepting that the game has changed since when I first got to the league.”
In his past 16 games, Turner is batting .397 with one homer, nine RBIs and a .931 OPS, including eight multihit games. He has a .446 on-base percentage in that stretch, which ranks fifth-best among qualified hitters.
In short, he is rolling.
“I’m just taking my hits, really,” Turner said. “I feel like my two-strike hitting has been good. I’m hitting the ball the other way pretty good. I just need to start pulling it in the air. It was nice to see that happen. I was working on that quite a bit in the cage. Just get those mistakes and put a good swing on it.”
Turner was hitting .217 with one homer, four RBIs and a .612 OPS in 18 games through April 18. He wasn’t hitting the ball hard (86.8 mph average exit velocity). He was chasing pitches out of the strike zone (30.5 percent).
Turner often talks about getting himself out when he is struggling. He was doing that early, but he has tightened up recently. He is hitting the ball harder (90.4 mph) and chasing fewer pitches (26.1 percent).
It has translated into results.
“It’s always been my game and who I am,” Turner said about getting on base. “But I think the walks have helped with that. At least early on, I was walking quite a bit. Lately, not as much. But I think that comes when you’re putting the ball in play and making good contact. Just having a high on-base percentage is nice. If you hit .300, you should be getting on base higher than I have in the past. That’s where I feel like I’ve seen a difference. I’m just controlling the zone and taking my walks.”
Turner crushed Rays right-hander Shane Baz’s 2-1 slider to left-center field in the third inning for his home run since April 9, snapping a streak of 111 plate appearances without a homer. It was his longest homerless streak since he had a 127 plate appearance streak from Sept. 13, 2023, through April 14, 2024.
The ball left his bat at 107.9 mph, making it his third hardest-hit ball of the season.
It was plenty for Cristopher Sánchez, who allowed one hit in six innings, and Taijuan Walker, who pitched three innings to earn the first save of his career in his 224th career appearance.
“I didn’t think I’d ever have a career save in my life,” Walker said. “To add that to my resume is pretty cool.”
Turner said he spent time in the cage on Wednesday trying to pull the ball because his power and a high on-base percentage don’t need to be exclusive.
He has done both in the past, after all.
“There’s times when certain pitchers, certain counts, two strikes, things like that, you’re maybe not looking for damage, you’re just looking for first base,” Turner said. “I want to be a dangerous hitter. You’ve got to hit doubles and then take your hits when they give them to you. I feel like I’ve taken my hits, but that power is still on its way hopefully.”