200 hits? 40 SB? What's in play for Turner?

This story was excerpted from the Phillies Beat newsletter. Paul Casella is filling in for Todd Zolecki on this edition. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Trea Turner is hitting .310 and on pace for the Phillies’ first 200-hit season since Jimmy Rollins in 2007.

Yet Turner isn’t fully satisfied with his performance over the first two months of 2025.

“Good, but not great,” Turner said.

Turner has his reasons for wanting more.

He’s hit only five home runs, putting him on pace for 15 this season -- though three of the five have come in the past four games. His .443 slugging percentage would be his second-lowest in any full season, ahead of only his .416 mark in 2018 with the Nationals.

“I just feel like I haven't fully locked it in,” Turner said before homering twice in three games vs. the A's. “And I'd like, obviously, the power to be up a little bit and the OPS to come up a little bit. Those things are kind of related, though."

On the other hand, Turner is hitting .300 when behind in the count. He’s chasing less (28.7% chase rate, down from 33.9% in 2024 and 35.3% in ’23). His two-strike approach has paid dividends.

When manager Rob Thomson talked to Turner before the season, his message was simple: Hit more, walk more, run more and score more runs. As Thomson figured it, if Turner scored 100 runs, stole 40 bases and reached base at a .380 clip, the Phillies’ offense would thrive.

Well, two months into the season, Turner is on pace for 203 hits, 116 runs and 43 stolen bases. His on-base percentage is .365.

Aside from Rollins, the Phillies’ only other 200-hit seasons in the past 50 years are Chase Utley (2006), Doug Glanville (1999) and Pete Rose (1979). The only Phillie in the Modern Era (since 1900) with 200 hits and 40 steals in a single season was Rollins in that 2007 NL MVP season.

Turner has a legitimate shot to join him.

In other words, this is the exact version of Turner the Phillies were hoping for.

"It really is,” Thomson said. “Like I said to him start of the year -- I said .380 [OBP], I don't think he's quite there right now -- but that was the goal, along with 100 runs and 40 stolen bases or something like that. But I said if he does that, then we're going to score a lot of runs."

While Turner doesn’t come into the season with personal goals of getting 200 hits or scoring 100 runs or swiping 40 bags, he knows that checking those boxes individually will mean he’s helping the team achieve its ultimate goal of winning a World Series.

"Those are cool milestones, but I don't really pick any specific numbers before the season,” Turner said. “One of the ones that I would say would be I always felt like, if I hit .300, the other numbers would take care of themselves. I feel like if you hit .300, you're doing a lot of things right -- you're getting on base, you're probably hitting with two strikes, hitting the ball pretty well.”

Though Turner would like to see his power numbers come around, the Phillies really haven’t needed that particular element with the way Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper are hitting behind him. Schwarber is tied for the MLB lead with 18 home runs. Harper is hitting .383 over his past dozen games, raising his season average 35 points during that span. Turner has already been driven in 11 times by Schwarber and eight by Harper.

"Just knowing I can kind of take my hit and pass it along to them is definitely nice,” Turner said. “I want to be like them, too -- I want to be driving the ball out of the ballpark; I want to be dangerous. But it's nice seeing them do what they do, because they're two great baseball players."

Thomson put it more simply when it comes to Turner.

“If he's getting on base,” Thomson said, “he's scoring.”