Oh, what a difference a year makes. Last season, Trea Turner made his Phillies debut and took months to get going. In 2024, Trea Turner is having the best start to a season of his career.
His hot streak against the Rockies and White Sox has earned him National League Player of the Week honors.
What Trea Turner’s Been Cookin’
The Trea Turner we saw in the 2nd half of last season helped Trea Turner make fans forget about his dismal first half. 2024 Trea Turner keeps continuing what he did directly after the fans gave him a standing ovation. In the 22 games after the standing ovation, Turner slashed .368/.404/.701. In his first 22 games of 2024, Turner has a .348/.402/.508 slash line.
While at his peak in 2024, the home runs were flying. With warmer weather, that could certainly happen again. For now, Turner has been a model of consistency.
Last week, Turner kicked things up a notch. In 6 games, he hit .462 with a 1.251 OPS. For 5 straight games, he registered an extra-base hit. He’s now in the midst of a 10-game hit streak.
His 5th stolen base of the year on Sunday pushed him to 40 straight successfully stolen bags. That hasn’t been accomplished since Ichiro Suzuki in 2006-07. He reached 45 consecutive steals. The record is held by Vince Coleman at 50 straight steals.
This is the 3rd time he’s been named NL Player of the Week and 2nd as a Phillie (09/03/2023).
What of the season to come?
As was stated, Trea Turner is off to the best start of his career.
Turner’s best full season came in 2021. That season he got off to a .902 OPS start in his first 22 games. He took that hot start and converted it into his first All-Star Game appearance and a 5th place MVP finish. He led the league in batting average and steals while hitting a career-high 28 home runs.
We could be in for the best version of Trea Turner yet.
Even though Turner only hit .235 with 10 homers in his first 107 games last season, he went on to finish the season at a respectable .266 BA and 26 HR marks. Now with a hot start, who knows what the limit is for Trea Turner.
Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
