This story was excerpted from Paul Casella's Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SEATTLE -- Trea Turner is once again searching for answers at the plate -- and what better place to get them than from one of the greatest hitters of all time?
The slumping Turner spent some time talking to Hall of Famer and Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki on the outfield grass prior to Tuesday night's game at T-Mobile Park.
"Talking with him about his mindset and what he physically does, a lot of it kind of applied to me in my game," Turner said. "It was kind of nice just hearing him, trying to ask him as many questions as possible."
Meanwhile, interim manager Don Mattingly asked a few questions of his own when questioned about Turner sticking in the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
“Where do you want me to put him?" Mattingly asked rhetorically. "And who do you want me to put there?”
Sure, there's Bryson Stott -- who has been hitting the ball well for months now -- but that would give the Phillies four straight left-handed hitters atop the lineup. The only realistic right-handed option is Alec Bohm, and the Phillies likely don't want to mess with him now that he's finally hit his stride in recent weeks.
"You've just got to hang in with guys over the course of a season," Mattingly said on Wednesday in Seattle. "And if there’s a point where it’s like, ‘OK, this has gotta go,’ then you get there. But right now, for me, it feels like ... panic when you start making changes like that late in the year."
There's no denying that Turner is in the midst of the worst season of his big league career -- both offensively and defensively. One year after hitting .304, the reigning National League batting champion is hitting just .239 with a .671 OPS.
He ranks 100th out of 138 qualified hitters in batting average. He's 124th in OPS.
"Obviously he's a guy that’s struggling right now," Mattingly said. " ... I think just, in general, Trea just is out there too far. He’s not letting the ball get to him and not getting into good counts at all.”
That last part is the key -- and it all starts with the very first pitch.
Entering Wednesday, when Turner gets ahead even just 1-0, he's hitting .303. That's not far off from last season, when he hit .313 in those situations.
But when he falls behind 0-1?
Turner is hitting just .167 (44-for-263) in those at-bats. He hit .294 last year and is a career .260 hitter in that unfavorable spot.
Overall, Turner is hitting just .181 (36-for-199) with 72 strikeouts when behind in the count. He hit .286 when behind the count last season.
Maybe that pregame conversation with one of the greatest hitters of all time can help.
"A lot of it was kind of really, '[What if I'm] flying open? How do you hit the ball the other way? What are your thoughts? What's your approach in certain situations? If you were doing this wrong, what would you do?'" Turner said. "Different hitting drills, just all sorts of stuff. It was great being able to pick his brain, and I really enjoyed it."
The biggest thing Turner needs to correct right now is that "flying open" portion. He made an adjustment on Tuesday night, but still went 0-for-4 before going 0-for-5 on Wednesday.
There was hope that he had turned a corner coming out of the All-Star break. Turner started the second half with a 21-game stretch in which he hit .318 with seven homers and a .983 OPS.
But then he went 0-for-6 with three strikeouts in an Aug. 9 game against the Blue Jays, and it's been more of that first-half funk ever since.
"I think we all know that Trea's gonna come out of this," Mattingly said. "And when he does, he'll get hot."
And who knows, maybe he’ll have Ichiro to thank for it.