The Phillies set goals for Trea Turner in 2025, and he has bought in: ‘He’s doing everything we asked’

Three weeks ago, with the Phillies at risk of getting swept by the Brewers — and missing Bryce Harper for the fifth consecutive game, the prelude to a lengthier absence — Trea Turner led off the first inning as follows:

It was exactly the sort of catalytic sequence that Turner’s boss asked him to generate more often this season.

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Rob Thomson spelled it out, in fact, in multiple offseason phone calls, according to Turner. Not only did the Phillies manager introduce the idea of elevating Turner into the leadoff spot, he also set expectations, if not statistical goals: a higher on-base percentage (.380, Thomson said in spring training) and 100 runs scored.

And to his credit, Turner bought in.

Entering this weekend’s showdown against the Mets, with the NL East lead at stake, Turner had reached base at a .359 clip, which would be his best mark since 2021. He was batting .300 and leading the National League with 90 hits. He also raised his walk rate to 7.3% from 5% last season and 6.5% in 2023.

But there’s more. Turner had stolen 19 bases, equaling his total from last season. He scored 51 runs, putting him on pace for 110. And he created three runs on the bases, according to a Statcast metric that combines steals with extra bases taken. His runs created from all of last season: three.

Turner, a right-handed hitter, is using center and right field more than the last two seasons and still generating power. He had nine homers through Thursday and ranked eighth among shortstops in slugging percentage (.453), nipping at the heels of the Mets’ Francisco Lindor (.459), who leads NL shortstops in All-Star voting. (Turner is in fourth.)

Tally it up, and Turner was tied for ninth among position players with 3.2 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs.

“He’s doing everything we asked,” Thomson said. “I said .380 on-base. He’s not there, but his on-base is really good. And he’s stealing bases. He’s going to end up with 15 to 20 home runs, probably. He’s getting it done.”

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To hear Turner tell it, the Phillies are giving him a greener light to use his athleticism. Although he missed time last season with a strained left hamstring, he said he felt he could have run more than he did. Less than two weeks from turning 32, on June 30, he still has the fifth-fastest sprint speed (29.9 feet per second) in the majors.

But Turner also concedes that he has adapted, not only to what the Phillies want from him, but to changes in the sport, which has become tougher than ever on hitters.

“I was never against walking,” Turner said in a conversation at his locker last week at Citizens Bank Park. “I always want to hit. But I also know walking gets you better pitches to hit and makes everything kind of go up. So, I’ve always wanted to [walk].

“But I think as I’ve gotten older, too, people just don’t really throw me pitches to hit. I think the game has just changed a little bit. I word it this way, even though it’s probably a little drastic: I feel like I just didn’t want to accept the way the game was.”

Something else stood out about Turner’s walk-steal-steal-score first inning on June 1 against the Brewers.

It came against lefty starter Jose Quintana.

The Phillies faced Quintana last October with their season on the line in Game 4 of the divisional series against the Mets. The scouting report was straightforward: “Quintana doesn’t throw strikes,” hitting coach Kevin Long said.

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In that case, the plan called for discipline. If the Phillies didn’t fish for pitches off the plate, Quintana would have to venture into the strike zone. Yet there they were, with two hits and two walks against him in five innings.

After the game, a season-extinguishing 4-1 dud in New York, Turner, as intelligent and self-aware as he is talented, took stock of the Phillies offense with this lament: “Personally, I think we get ourselves out. I don’t think it matters who’s on the mound.”

Turner mostly was pointing a finger at himself.

In his first seven major league seasons, he swung at 26% of pitches out of the strike zone. His “chase rate,” in hitting parlance, rose to 34.7% through two seasons with the Phillies, including 38% after the All-Star break last season.

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So the trend has been to throw him fewer pitches in the zone. As Long puts it, “If I don’t have to throw a strike and I can get somebody out, why wouldn’t I do it?”

Turner always was unapologetically aggressive at the plate. To an extent, he’s unlikely to change. But he also has come around to the reality that baseball in 2025 is different from when he made his major league debut 10 years ago with the Nationals — and even from when he won a batting title in 2021.

For one thing, hitting is as difficult as ever. When Turner was a rookie in 2015, the overall batting average across the majors was .254. Last season, it was .243, tied for the fourth-lowest mark since 1901. This season has been nearly the same — .245 through Wednesday.

Teams place more emphasis on controlling the strike zone and getting on base. Walks are more valuable than ever. Last season, Turner observed that “some of these players coming up — and some are really good players — are thinking about that walk almost more than they are hitting."

But there’s been a notable change in Turner’s tone, not to mention his strike-zone discipline. His out-of-the-zone swing rate has dipped to 29.7%, his lowest mark since 2021, when he won the batting title with a .328 average and 26.4% chase rate.

“I’ve just kind of accepted that there’s times where guys just don’t want to throw strikes,” he said. “Even if the situation calls for throwing a strike — or if it’s a situation where they’d rather face me than Bryce — it doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to get a pitch to hit.“

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Which brings us back to the recent meeting with Quintana.

Never mind that Kyle Schwarber was batting behind Turner. Quintana threw four pitches that were just off the outer edge of the plate. Turner didn’t swing at any.

This time, he didn’t get himself out.

“I’ve always kind of said that if I can hit .300, a lot of the other things will take care of itself,“ said Turner, a .296 lifetime hitter. ”I think that goes a little bit hand in hand with the walking, too. If you’re swinging at good pitches, you’re probably going to hit for a high average. And then, if you’re swinging at good pitches, you probably also will lay off some tough ones and walk.”

Turner had 10 stolen bases through 33 games last season when he strained his hamstring while scoring from second base on a passed ball.

Upon his return, he stole nine bases in 88 games.

“I got the red light quite a bit,” he said.

Neither the Phillies nor Turner wanted to take unnecessary chances to risk reinjuring his hamstring. But Turner also said he “felt like I could’ve stolen more.”

» READ MORE: Can Kyle Schwarber hit 500 home runs? It’s not that far-fetched. Here’s how he can get there.

If you’re wondering, then, whether his 19 steals entering the weekend are a function of better health or a more aggressive strategy on the bases, Turner wants to be clear.

“I think it’s probably 90% just them letting me run more,” said Turner, who entered Friday with more steals (298) than any player in baseball since 2015. “Just the way the lineup’s been, with Kyle hitting down a little lower, they’re just letting me run a little bit more. And it’s more on me when I do or don’t go.”

When the season opened, Thomson placed Turner atop the order against left-handed pitchers, with Schwarber, and later Bryson Stott, leading off against righties.

Two weeks ago, with Stott struggling, the Phillies turned over the leadoff spot to Turner exclusively.

Leading off has helped Turner unlock his game-altering abilities. When he reaches base, Schwarber isn’t on in front of him. And with Harper (when healthy) and Schwarber batting behind him, he tends to see more fastballs.

Opponents haven’t fed Turner as much hard stuff over the last few years because he was susceptible to chasing sliders out of the zone. Last season, only slightly more than half (50.3%) of the pitches he saw were fastballs.

“I do think I get pitched differently a little bit leading off,” he said. “Here or there, it’s a few more fastballs. There’s plenty of times where I go through an at-bat without seeing a heater, but just getting pitched slightly differently, I think that makes a big difference.”

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It has helped enable Turner to do more of the things the Phillies envisioned before the 2023 season, when they signed him to an 11-year, $300 million contract.

“I’ll swing at the first pitch here or there, but I also know I’ve got to get on for those guys behind me,” he said. “I feel like I’ve done a good job this year taking my shots where I’ve been a little aggressive and then kind of backed off and been a little patient. Just kind of relaxing. Ready to hit, but also not swinging at everything or not being too passive. I feel like I’ve got a good middle ground right now.”