Trea Turner thanks radio station, crowd for standing ovation
After his miraculous stint for Team USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, shortstop Trea Turner, who inked an 11-year, $300 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies over the offseason, was viewed as a player who could put the reigning NL champs potentially over the top.
Though Turner got off to an incredibly sluggish start. Over his first 106 games, he was slashing .237/.291/.370 with 21 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs, 34 RBIs and 21 stolen bases in 477 plate appearances. Turner, the reigning Silver Slugger who finished No. 11 in NL MVP Voting in 2022 with the Dodgers, was enduring arguably the worst 106-game start of his career in his inaugural season with the Phillies.
Over his last 46 games, however, Turner’s found his footing, sporting a 1.041 OPS (entering Thursday) with 16 home runs, 42 RBIs and 13 additional extra-base hits in 203 plate appearances. Turner credited a Philadelphia sports talk radio station as well as the fanbase for giving him a standing ovation–proposed by a producer at the radio station–every at-bat of their three-game series against the Kansas City Royals from Aug. 4-6.
“My wife saw a video on social media about it and she showed me before I went to the stadium that day. So she was kind of where I heard it first,” Turner told Marks & Reese Wednesday. “Obviously, the whole thing happened and the rest is kind of history. Started playing a lot better and it was thanks to you guys and the crowd.”
Trea Turner talks about the standing ovation: “I started playing a lot better and it was thanks to you guys and the crowd.”
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) September 27, 2023
(@MarksReeseWIP) pic.twitter.com/1GIUiH3qSX
Let’s give Trea Turner a standing ovation this weekend. #Phillies #trea #baseball #philly pic.twitter.com/4ZmBX7ZdZM
— The Philly Captain (@philly_captain) August 4, 2023
The Phillies clinched a playoff berth earlier this week and are second in the NL East at 89-79. They are 33-20 since the start of August with two separate five-plus game win streaks, in part due to Turner finding his groove.
“My expectation of myself, how I played for a number of years now, I just want to do my job,” Turner said. “Those first 100 games or so, I wasn’t kind of living up to the standard that I played at for awhile and just wanted to get back to that. And then the next 35, 40 games have been pretty special.
“I think it’s probably the best I’ve hit in my life, just from a power standpoint really…As far as power and consistency it’s probably the best I’ve hit. It was a lot of fun.”
Philadelphia fans are known for being some of the most notorious in American sports, which makes Turner’s sign of gratitude all the more heartwarming. The fans could’ve easily continued booing or belittling him, but they didn’t.
Now, he played a major part in their second-half success and could play a huge part in a potential playoff run.
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