PHILADELPHIA -- Trea Turner was on the field four hours before Tuesday's game, which meant he was chasing something. Turner does not take batting practice outside unless he has exhausted every other remedy. It is the clearest sign that Turner is agitated.
He swung and swung. Some teammates joined, but no one took as many rounds as Turner did.
"Today," he said a few minutes after the session, "was a lot."
When he cannot fix something as quickly as he once did, Turner grows frustrated. He does not hide it.
In the first inning, he hit a sinking liner to left that was nabbed for a diving catch. In the second inning, with two runners in scoring position, Turner wildly swung at two pitches out of the zone to strike out. In the fourth inning, he crushed a ball to deep right field, only it was caught at the wall. Again, Turner looked defeated as he sauntered down the first-base line.
He reprised the same pregame routine Wednesday afternoon.
This whole thing feels like a race against time because the Philadelphia Phillies are all a year older and made everything harder with a dismal April that cost Rob Thomson his manager job. Wins in eight of their last nine games will buy everyone -- Turner included -- a little slack.
Turner has always been the fastest guy on the field, so he'll try to outrun time. Everything feels more secure when Turner, the shortstop in the field and leadoff man atop the batting order, is doing things.
His .240 batting average to begin this season is the lowest he's ever had through the first 36 games of a season. So is his .663 OPS. His play at shortstop has been erratic -- at best -- and a clear regression from 2025 when he elevated his defense.
He had two encouraging hits later in Tuesday's blowout win. But, on Wednesday, he struck out in the first inning without seeing a pitch in the strike zone. He flied out, slashed a single to right, then grounded out in his fourth and fifth at-bats.
"I go get two, three, four hits in the game, and the next game (have) bad at-bats," Turner said. "And then another game, you hit balls hard, and no success. Then, next game, bad. The consistency is just not there."
Last week, Turner reached 10 years of big-league service time, an achievement players consider sacrosanct. He had a small celebration at home with his wife and three kids. Then, when the Phillies were in Miami and had a rare Sunday night for dinner, he went out with more family and friends.
He's spent 10 years playing at the highest level, winning two batting titles, and nothing is more elusive than being consistent.
"That's why it's frustrating," Turner said. "Because I know I can do it."
From the beginning of the 2016 season -- Turner's first full one in the majors -- only four players have produced a higher batting average (Luis Arraez, Freddie Freeman, Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez). That is one measurement of consistency.
But Turner, who turns 33 in June, is signed through the 2033 season. He is making $27 million a year. He is clear-eyed about his place in all of this. He wants to hit at least .300 every year. It's why he is upset by the season's first seven weeks.
"Getting better," Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said Tuesday. "That's the thing about Trea, you know he's going to hit. And when he's struggling, obviously, he's not happy about it. He's working. Anytime guys keep working, and they have ability, it's going to happen,right? If he wasn't hitting and not working,it's different.It's just believing that when you're not going good,you can work and stay with it."
But,to Turner,it's more than that.
He knows even he cannot outrun time. Before,when things went wayward,it was easier to fix.Even last season,there were slumps,but they did not persist.It's why he batted .304.The Phillies asked him to trade a pull-happy swing for one that leveraged the entire field.Turner sacrificed power.It made him a more complete player;he finished fifth in National League MVP voting.By fWAR,he had the second-best season of his career.
That is somehow easy to forget.The Phillies did not advance deep into October.Turner wasn't even the highest NL MVP finisher on his own team.
"I mean,that's my whole career," Turner said."A lot of people don't remember me because I'm not the flashiest.But it's kind of how I like it.I just want to be a good player,and if you recognize it,you do.If you don't,you don't.I don't really give a s--t about that.It's kind of like,'What have you done for me lately?'That's how I feel."
That can be a trap, though.
"My thing is never a lack of confidence," Turner said."I don't need to be reminded I'm a good player.I know I'm a good player.So it's never from a confidence standpoint.I'm better than this.'It's really just competing.It’s not mental.I think sometimes people tell me,'You’ve got to remember how good you are.'And I’m like,'I don’t really ever feel that way.I don’t ever feel like I’m not good enough.'
“It’s really the opposite in my mind.”
Maybe the adjustments have become harder. Or at least less obvious. He is chasing more than last year, but not by a lot. He is swinging at the first pitch far less than last year. Everything is connected as he searches.
"Sometimes I move on from an adjustment a little bit too quickly," he said. "But also, if I do the adjustment right and it is the right adjustment, I feel (like) I have success kind of right away. Maybe it's not success in getting hits, but it's doing things right. So I know when it feels different in a good way."
In Tuesday's seventh inning, after three at-bats without results, Turner drove the first pitch he saw to left field for a double. He later scored a run. Later, in the eighth inning, Turner chased a two-strike pitch out of the zone but did it with a short swing. He smacked a run-scoring single to center.
It didn't carry over into Wednesday. The Phillies won, and Turner has more to think about. He'll probably keep swinging in the afternoon.
"It's just working at it," Turner said."Sometimes I'll literally not swing all day and just go out there and play.Sometimes,there's a day when you just swing."