Phillies' Standing Ovation Drives Trea Turner Resurgence
It's been one week since the Philadelphia Phillies' crowd gave Trea Turner a standing ovation before every single at-bat last Friday against the Kansas City Royals.
Since that moment, Turner has been a completely different hitter at the plate compared to his horrendous slump.
Manager Rob Thomson said after the finale against the Washington Nationals, "He looks like Trea Turner, and that’s good."
Yes, it is.
The Phillies have desperately needed the bat of their superstar shortstop to wake up this season and it looks like that has finally happened.
In the week after the ovation, Turner has hit .370/.393/.741 with two home runs, four doubles and eight RBI.
"Maybe it’s the crowd, maybe it’s a little bit better swing, maybe it’s better pitches, maybe I’m relaxed,” the shortstop told MLB.com. “I don’t know if there’s one specific thing. I think just everything as a whole is in a better direction, better shape."
He's not the only one who has been hitting a hot bat since the ovation.
Nick Castellanos slugged .300/.300/.800 with five home runs and eight RBI during this time. Bryce Harper hit .280/.321/.640 with two home runs and six RBI. J.T. Realmuto put up .292/.414/.542 with two home runs and four RBI.
As a team, they've homered 17 times in six games.
The new hot hitting has powered Philadelphia to an 8-3 record in their last 11 and pushed them to a season-high 12 games over .500.
The Phillies were waiting for the resurgence of Turner. They feel like when he's hitting well it opens up their entire lineup.
"I’ve kind of hopefully put those first 100 games behind me. And [now I can] just keep going and playing baseball like I can," he said.
If that's the case, Philadelphia is going to be a scary team if they get into the postseason.
