Philadelphia Phillies Crowd Gives Trea Turner Standing Ovation
It's not a secret anymore.
Trea Turner is massively struggling at the plate.
After signing an 11-year, $300 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies in the offseason, the first year for the superstar shortstop has not gone as planned for either side.
Coming off his strong showing at the World Baseball Classic where he was Team USA's best player, Turner was expected to use that strong form and hit the ground running with the Phillies.
It's been anything but the case.
He's hitting a career low slash line of .236/.289/.367 and an abysmal .133/.200/.200 over his last 15 games.
This has caused manager Rob Thomson to move him down towards the bottom of the lineup instead of his usual second spot and caused the manager to consider sitting him for a few days.
Turner's struggles were punctuated in the seven game road stretch where he went 3-28 with eight strike outs.
Heading back home for their series against the Kansas City Royals, many wondered what type of reaction he would get from the tough Philadelphia crowd.
During his first at-bat, many of the 36,000 plus people in attendance gave their shortstop a standing ovation to show support during his tough time.
"I thought it was pretty [freaking] cool. The fans have my back. They’re showing up for me. It’s pretty cool to see," Turner said.
He went 1-4 with an RBI in the sixth inning that cut the Phillies' deficit to one run.
The shortstop was encouraged by that at-bat saying, "That’s my swing right there. That’s something I haven’t been able to do for a while -- hit that fastball the other way. I feel like I’ve fouled that exact pitch off a thousand times this year. For that swing to come out right there was a really good sign."
Nobody is hoping to turn around his struggles more than Turner. With the support of the fanbase behind him, everyone is hoping Friday night was the spark that gets his game back on track.
