The Philadelphia Phillies may be in the midst of a surprising turnaround of a season that looked lost last month, but the problems that plagued them early on still linger. Phillies hitters still look completely lost at the plate (outside of Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber), chief among them being leadoff man Trea Turner. If interim manager Don Mattingly wants the recent spurt of success to continue, he needs to seriously consider pushing Turner down in the batting order.
$300 million is a lot to pay anyone, but Turner looked like he was worth it back in the 2022-2023 offseason. The shortstop had posted a blistering .302/.355/.487 slash line during the preceding eight seasons with the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers, and had swiped a remarkable 230 bags with only 42 failed attempts. Heading into his age-30 season, Turner was the biggest name in a loaded free agent shortstop class.
The Phillies just so happened to need a star middle infielder that offseason, as fan favorite Didi Gregorius was released halfway through the previous campaign and rookie Bryson Stott was primed to take over second base after Jean Segura departed in free agency. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski took one of his patented big swings to fill that gap, and reeled in Turner with an offer of $300 million over 11 seasons.
The Turner megadeal hasn’t been a complete disaster, but his four years in red pinstripes have left fans feeling somewhat underwhelmed. The speedster has slashed a good-not-great .281/.331/.448 across 2,100 plate appearances, stealing 94 bases (he was caught just 12 times). That’s solid production in the aggregate, but far from what you'd expect from $27 million per year.
Trea Turner is not what the Phillies need in the leadoff spot
Unfortunately, the soon-to-be 33-year-old has completely bottomed out this year, putting up an anemic .221/.277/.332 line over 53 games. A sub-.300 on-base percentage is completely unacceptable from a leadoff hitter, and has put an already-underpowered Phillies offense behind the eight ball. On top of that, Turner’s usual suspect defense has reared its ugly head again, as he has six errors in only 51 games.
Do you think Trea Turner is gonna figure it out? pic.twitter.com/ScJtMVldPi
— Philly Sports Sufferer (@mccrystal_alex) May 24, 2026
The truth could not be more evident that hitting Trea Turner leadoff is hurting his team. A tablesetter that is incapable of setting tables needs to be given a reset, even if there aren’t any other good options. Don Mattingly doesn’t have any ready-made replacements at his disposal, as just about everyone except for Harper and Schwarber have underperformed. Fans may be clamoring for Justin Crawford to slot in atop the lineup, but the 22-year-old’s .662 OPS reveals a rookie who’s merely treading water in his first crack at the big leagues.
The only real viable alternatives to Turner in the one-hole are the team’s only two consistent hitters: Harper and Schwarber. Unfortunately, Harper has made his aversion to leading off quite clear, while Schwarber’s prodigious power seems wasted if the only runner he’s driving in is himself.
Mattingly finds himself in a quandary, as the status quo is clearly unacceptable but he has no reasonable solutions to turn to. A temporary shift of Schwarber to the leadoff spot would likely do some good, as his on-base prowess would at least get the offense going, while dropping Turner to a spot with less pressure would probably help clear his head.
Ultimately, the Phillies’ offensive problems cannot be fixed with just one tweak to the lineup. Dave Dombrowski’s flawed roster construction has put his team in a position to fail, and the only way for that to change is for an unexpected minor leaguer to make an impact, or for a trade deadline savior to bail them out. Until then, they’ll likely live and die with the Trea Turner experience, with dying looking much likelier.
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