3 Phillies players who must step up in Trea Turner’s absence
With Turner on the IL, we can think of at least three players who need to step up their game.
On Saturday, the Philadelphia Phillies received the bad news that Trea Turner will be out for a while after an innocent-looking play at home plate on Friday night.
The star shortstop landed on the 10-day IL with a left hamstring strain, but the timeline is expected to be at least six weeks, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. That's a significant amount of time for a player who has been a difference-maker for this Phillies team early on.
Which Phillies players will really need to step up their game to help fill the void in the meantime? There are at least three players on the roster who will need to play a more significant role while Turner recovers.
Edmundo Sosa
The first Phillies player in the replacement queue that makes the most sense is backup infielder Edmundo Sosa. After all, he was the first one summoned to replace Turner on Friday, and he made the start on Saturday as well. Per MLB.com's Paul Casella, manager Rob Thomson stated that going with Sosa at short is the primary plan for now.
The Phillies acquired Sosa from the St. Louis Cardinals at the 2022 trade deadline. Known predominantly for his defensive abilities, he has been a huge part of the Phillies bench. He is versatile enough to cover second base, third base and shortstop and is an important backup for all of those positions.
The 28-year-old has also had decent success at the plate despite his limited playing time. He has a solid .263 average with a .759 OPS, with 45 runs scored, 23 doubles, three triples, 13 home runs and 45 RBI over 138 games played in just 354 at-bats as a Phillie heading into Sunday's action.
With 15 DRS registered over six seasons playing in the infield, Sosa will certainly upgrade the Phillies’ overall infield defense but will need to step up his offensive game to help replace some of the lost offense from Turner’s bat. Perhaps finally getting a chance to play almost every day will help unlock his untapped offensive potential.
Bryson Stott
Another player who will need to boost his game during Turner’s absence is second baseman Bryson Stott. If the Phillies don’t want to take the risk of having Sosa play as the everyday shortstop, Casella suggests that Stott can easily shift over from second base and make some starts at short as a stop-gap solution. After all, he did see 83 games of action in the position back in his rookie season in 2022 with the Phillies.
However, after being named by The Athletic as one of the top breakout players of 2023, when he hit .280 with a .748 OPS, 78 runs scored, 32 doubles, 15 home runs, 62 RBI and 31 stolen bases, Stott has struggled a bit coming out of the gate to start 2024. Nevertheless, he has come on as of late, lifting his batting average to .242, along with an OPS of .720, 16 runs scored, three home runs, 17 RBI and seven stolen bases in 31 games played.
The Phillies will need Stott to help make up for some of the steady offensive production that Turner provided. He should now be able to get that distinct honor in doing so as he will likely move up a notch in the batting order in the coming weeks and have more opportunities to drive in runs as a result. If Saturday’s two-hit, two-RBI performance is any indication of how he will play without Turner in the lineup, then the Phillies certainly should be all right going forward.
Whit Merrifield
One of the Phillies’ most prized offseason signings, veteran utilityman Whit Merrifield, has been quite the disappointment so far this year.
After tearing it up big time during spring training, posting a .405 batting average and 1.143 OPS with seven runs scored, six doubles, two home runs and seven RBI in just 16 games, Merrifield has been just a shell of that since the start of the regular season. Given his pedigree of being a former three-time All-Star and two-time AL leader in hits, much was expected of him by the Phillies heading into the year.
In 16 games, he is hitting just .250 with a .725 OPS, seven runs scored, two doubles, two home runs, three RBI and three stolen bases. The fact that he hasn’t been able to play every day may have something to do with his struggles. Last year, Merrifield put together a solid All-Star season with the Toronto Blue Jays after receiving more consistent playing time following the first month of the season.
So perhaps Turner’s injury will open the opportunity for Merrifield to garner more playing time going forward. Hopefully, we will see him be able to repeat his dominant performance from last season to help support the Phillies' offense. He hit a home run in Saturday's 14-3 win over the Giants, so is that the beginning of a hot streak for the veteran?
In the end, we can hope that Turner won’t be out as long as expected, as losing someone of his caliber for a significant amount of time is never an easy task to replace for any team. Not to mention that the Phillies are in a neck-and-neck battle with the Atlanta Braves for the NL East division.
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