Phillies takeaways: Trea Turner’s 2 identities, outfield platoons, resetting the rotation

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He did not hit the ball hard in the 10th inning Sunday night, and it did not leave the infield. But Trea Turner ran hard. He reached a 31.4 mph sprint speed — the fastest he’s run all season — and he had an infield single to score the Phillies’ third run in a 3-1 win over the Chicago Cubs.

It wasn’t much. But it was something.

This was Turner’s 302nd regular-season game with the Phillies. Two run-scoring hits in a solid win — a good night. There are eight more years on his contract after 2025, but the Phillies signed Turner to a $300 million deal in December 2022 because they anticipated an elite-level performer at shortstop for the initial years. Turner, who will turn 32 in June, has not been that. He’s hit .277/.329/.452 since he joined the Phillies. They have been waiting for it to last more than a short burst here or there.

And it’s hard to imagine the Phillies going where they want to go without Turner playing like a star.

The Phillies have asked Turner to apply adjustments, and he has. Turner was the one who, after last year’s National League Division Series defeat, said the Phillies were getting themselves out. Now, he is walking at a higher rate than he ever has. He has played a better shortstop — Saturday’s miscue that led to two unearned runs notwithstanding.

But he’s homered only once. He does not have an extra-base hit against a lefty pitcher. He isn’t driving the ball like he did for prolonged stretches earlier in his career. It sometimes looks like Turner is caught between identities. There’s the top-of-the-lineup creator who can make things happen by just putting the ball in play. Or there is the aggressive swinger who can backspin a ball like few others.

Turner, when at his best, has found a way to be both. The Phillies just haven’t seen it enough.

It’s always worth revisiting the choices that were in front of the Phillies after falling two games short of the World Series in 2022. They wanted to sign a shortstop. They were going to sign a shortstop. Turner was their first choice.

He has not been the star they expected, but he’s arguably done the best out of that hyped free-agent class.

It doesn’t take much. As NBC Sports Philadelphia noted, Turner has 99 multi-hit games with the Phillies. They are 70-29 in those games.

Platoon City

Max Kepler homers on Saturday. He’s 4-for-22 against lefties this season. (Griffin Quinn / Getty Images)

Even before Brandon Marsh’s latest hamstring setback suffered Sunday, the Phillies probably would not have activated him before their next game, Tuesday at home against the Washington Nationals. They are slated to face a lefty, MacKenzie Gore, in the series opener.

The season is a month old, and some of the Phillies’ thinking is crystallizing. The day they signed Max Kepler to play left field, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski committed to a regular outfield.

“If you start going around the club, it’s hard to platoon everywhere,” Dombrowski said Dec. 20. “… It’s hard to platoon strictly in center and in left. So they’ll both be given an opportunity.”

The Phillies will probably be running two platoons by the time Marsh returns.

Kepler has not driven the ball like the Phillies hoped, but he’s had his moments. He had three hits, including a homer in Saturday’s 10-4 win. He drew a walk in the 10th inning Sunday night and scored a run. But most of his production has come with a righty on the mound.

The Phillies have faced seven lefty starters this season. Kepler has started two of those games. Entering Sunday night’s game, Kepler had a 90.7 mph average exit velocity against righties and an 84.7 mph one versus lefties. Seven of his eight extra-base hits in 2025 have come against a righty. He has shown a good eye, often not chasing. But the Minnesota Twins treated him as a platoon player in 2024. The Phillies signed him for $10 million, indicating they viewed him as more than a part-time player.

Now, with Weston Wilson back on the active roster, there is an easier path to platooning Kepler. Wilson has hit .340/.452/.640 in 62 career plate appearances against big-league lefties. He will have his opportunities in left field whenever a lefty opposes the Phillies.

“I wouldn’t call it a platoon,” Thomson said last week in New York.

It’s probably a platoon. And there’s no harm in it — if it works.

As for Marsh, Thomson told reporters the club would have to reassess him this week. Marsh, playing a minor-league rehab game Sunday at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, suffered a right hamstring cramp. He is on the injured list with a slight strain in his right hamstring.

Johan Rojas misplayed a ball Sunday night that led to the only run Aaron Nola allowed, failed to execute a sacrifice bunt in the eighth inning, and then could not make a safety squeeze work in the 10th inning. He’s all the Phillies have in center field. There’s been good and bad. They’d like to see Marsh, even if he’s hitless in his last 31 at-bats.

Resetting the rotation

Aaron Nola allowed one run, three hits and one walk in seven innings against the Cubs. (David Banks / Imagn Images)

Maybe the best development over the weekend was Nola’s night in the series finale. He commanded the ball better than he has all season in seven strong innings against one of the league’s better offenses. He threw harder; his sinker sat 92 mph and touched 93.4 mph. He located that pitch backdoor to righties. He generated some ugly swings on changeups to lefties. And, after using his cutter only once in his previous start against the Mets, Nola threw it 17 times Sunday night. Cubs hitters swung and missed at six cutters.

He looked like Nola.

A lot has conspired against Nola this season, much of it his own doing. But he has pitched with a lead for all of four batters. It wasn’t even for a full inning, back on April 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He didn’t earn a win Sunday night, but the Phillies won a Nola start for the first time all season. Maybe it’ll allow him to breathe a bit.

He should have an extra day before his next one.

The Phillies will start Zack Wheeler in Tuesday’s game against Washington. After that, it’s unclear. Cristopher Sánchez will return to the rotation at some point during the homestand. It doesn’t have to be Wednesday; Taijuan Walker can pitch then on regular rest. Jesús Luzardo could slot Thursday on regular rest, too. But Luzardo threw 102 pitches Saturday for only the eighth time in his career, so the Phillies would like to give him an extra day.

The perpetual variable in this is Ranger Suárez, who threw 78 pitches in 4 2/3 innings Sunday at Triple A. That should be enough to deem him ready for the majors, but the Phillies could delay their rotation decision for another turn, forcing Suárez to make a fifth rehab start later this week.

Last week, Dombrowski said the Phillies had not discussed Suárez returning as anything other than a starter. He had viewed Suárez’s start Sunday at Lehigh Valley as the finishing touch.

“And then after that, assuming everything is fine, I would anticipate he’d join us,” Dombrowski said last week. “Now, how it all is going to balance together, I don’t know.”

Something to monitor in the coming days.

(Top photo of Trea Turner: David Banks / Imagn Images)

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