Trea Turner’s Nightmare Season Keeps Getting Worse

Trea Turner’s disastrous season in Philadelphia hit a new low Wednesday night. The high-priced shortstop failed to field a groundball that would have sealed an extra innings win for the Phillies. Things just keep getting worse for him.

The Phillies led the Miami Marlins 8-7 in the bottom of the 11th, with two outs and a runner on second. The newly-acquired Josh Bell ripped a ball off Dylan Covey that was playable for Turner. As he moved to backhand the ball, it took a hop and went past him into the outfield for a game-tying single. The Marlins would win 9-8 in 12 innings.

The play is below:

Just a microcosm of Turner’s season.

A few weeks ago we looked at Turner’s seriously disappointing 2023 campaign so far. This offseason, the 30-year-old entered free agency as one of MLB‘s most coveted players. He signed an 11-year, $300 million contract and was expected to be the missing piece that would put the Phillies over the top. That has not happened.

Through 106 games, Turner is hitting .237, with a .291 on-base percentage, while slugging .370. He is far below his career averages in each of those statistics (.294/.348/.474). He has 10 home runs, 34 RBI and has struck out 115 times against 32 walks. His wRC+ is a woeful 77. For those unaware, 100 wRC+ is considered league average.

As things stand right now, Turner’s .662 OPS ranks 131st out of 145 qualified players. If that’s not bad enough, his 14 errors are the second most in baseball. You can make a legitimate argument that Turner is one of the league’s worst players this season.

The sad part? Things are only getting worse for Turner. In the 18 games since the All-Star break, he’s slashing .187/.256/.280. That .536 OPS is simply horrific.

There’s a decent chance Turner flips the script, but I don’t see that happening this season. He’s too far in the hole for a miraculous turnaround at this point. But he’s also too talented to be this bad.