The Philadelphia Phillies have turned their season around after an abysmal start. Entering Tuesday, the club owns a 39-33 record, sitting in second place behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East.
Despite the team's success, one player in particular has continued to struggle. Now in his fourth season with the Phillies, shortstop Trea Turner has been one of the least valuable players in baseball.
The 32-year-old has posted a .216 batting average, .268 on-base percentage, .595 OPS, seven home runs and 21 RBIs across 71 games.
He has also graded out as one of the worst defenders in baseball, posting a Fielding Run Value of -3, according to Baseball Savant.
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Now Turner is dealing with another setback, this one not performance related. During Monday's series opener against the Miami Marlins, Turner was drilled by a pitch in the right wrist and was removed from the game in the eighth inning.
After the game, Phillies manager Don Mattingly revealed that X-rays were negative but that Turner was expected to be sore.
As a result, ahead of Tuesday's game against Miami, the Phillies removed Turner from the starting nine. Instead, Edmundo Sosa drew the start at shortstop.
However, Mattingly then provided a positive update on Turner's condition, saying he expects Turner to be ready to go Wednesday and that he is even available to play defense if needed Tuesday.
It is unlikely he makes an appearance in the batter's box, though, as the team wants to give his right wrist a full day to recover (h/t Ty Daubert of Phillies Nation).
With Turner expected to miss just one game and return for Wednesday's series finale against Miami, he will look to use this minor setback as a reset.
Turner is one of the most accomplished players of his era, a three-time All-Star, two-time batting champion and Silver Slugger award winner, so he clearly has the ability to be elite. The question now is whether age has simply caught up to him.
