Phillies’ Trea Turner not surprised by his All-Star snub: ‘Shortstop’s a hard position to get in’

SAN FRANCISCO — When Rob Thomson gathered the team in the clubhouse on Sunday to read off the names of the Phillies’ 2025 All-Stars, Trea Turner wasn’t on it.

It was a much shorter list than the franchise-record eight Phillies who made it last season: only Zack Wheeler and Kyle Schwarber will be headed to Atlanta, at least for now. Turner, who leads the National League in hits with 110, did not make the cut.

“I’m certainly happy for Kyle and for Wheels,” Thomson said. “I’m a little disappointed we didn’t have more guys.”

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Turner said Monday that he wasn’t that surprised when his name wasn’t called.

“I think my teammates were a little more surprised than I was,” he said. “But shortstop’s a hard position to get in, especially with some of the younger guys now playing really well.”

The Mets’ Francisco Lindor was named the starting NL shortstop following the fan vote, and Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz was named a reserve. Reserve players are chosen by a player ballot and by Major League Baseball.

Turner entered Tuesday with a .299 batting average and a .798 OPS. He also had 22 stolen bases, and his eight outs above average defensively is the second-best marker of his career, behind only the 12 OAA he posted in 2018.

“Hitting’s been pretty good,” Turner said. “I would like to kind of get going a little bit more, but I think I’m doing a lot of things well that I hadn’t done in the last couple of seasons. Hitting the ball the other way better, not striking out very much. So I think those two things are great. And the consistency is there.”

But even so, Turner was more surprised at the absence of pitchers Cristopher Sánchez and Ranger Suárez from the All-Star team than he was about himself.

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Sánchez’s 2.59 ERA was fifth in the NL, entering Tuesday. Since Suárez missed the first six weeks of the season with an injury, he is 13 innings shy of qualifying for the ERA title. But if he did qualify, his 1.99 would trail only Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes.

“I’m shocked about Sánchy,” Turner said. “Honestly, I couldn’t believe Sánchy didn’t get in. And then I thought Ranger had a real shot as well. I think the voting has happened a few weeks ago, and so much changes in those two, three weeks leading up. So I don’t remember Sánchy’s numbers when we were voting or the fans were voting, but I can’t believe he’s not there. … He’s having a great season. I think he’s probably a top-five pitcher in the NL.”

Sánchez, who was one of the Phillies’ eight All-Stars in 2024, said after his start on Monday that he uses this year’s snub as motivation.

“I won’t lie, it got me by surprise,” he said through a team interpreter. “But those are things that happen. There’s still a small chance it might happen; we’ve just got to keep our focus on our work.”

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It’s possible that Turner, Sánchez, or Suárez still might get a call as players drop out of the All-Star Game because of injury or other reasons. Braves pitcher Chris Sale certainly will be one of those, as he has been on the injured list with a fractured left rib since June.

If his phone doesn’t ring, Turner will be fine with four days off at home. But he said that his family is still hoping for his fourth All-Star selection.

“A lot of awards for me now, I’ve realized, are kind of for the people around me,” Turner said. “They want me to get those probably more than I would. I just want to play baseball, do my job, do it well, and try to win a championship. And I think the other stuff takes care of itself.”

Suárez, who was limited to a pitch count of 85 on Saturday against the Reds, is on track to make his next start, according to Thomson. “He’s fine,” Thomson said. “It’s just normal stuff. His workload in June was so hot, just for me personally, sends up the red flag.” … Taijuan Walker (3-5, 3.64 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday against Giants left-hander Robbie Ray (9-3, 2.68).