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The always intense Trea Turner had a scowl on his face as he walked out to a tarp-covered field at Citizens Bank Park prior to Saturday’s game against the Nationals. The rain prevented him from taking batting practice for the first time since he injured his left hamstring on an incredible hustle play at the plate on May 3 against the Giants.
But he found a way to get in some work. He was accompanied by an athletic trainer as he did some stretching on the field. He did some agility work on Friday and has been taking grounders with the team throughout the homestand.
The Phillies are smart to remain cautious with Turner. He is a power-hitting shortstop whose speed makes him one of the most dynamic players in the sport. He provides as much value on the bases as he does in the No. 2 hole.
He is progressing at an impressive pace, but the Phillies could ill afford to rush him and risk the speedy Turner re-injuring himself.
With all that said, it appears Turner has at least a reasonable chance of beating his initial stated recovery timeline of at least six weeks.
He is expected to accompany the Phillies on the team’s upcoming west coast road trip to Colorado and San Francisco beginning May 24. The trip to London to take on the Mets is exactly three weeks away. Could Turner be with the team for the journey across the pond?
“I don’t know. I hope so, because that means he’s back with us,” Thomson said. “But I hope so.”
It was the first time the Phillies let out any sort of hint about Turner’s return. The Phillies say there is no official timetable and that the London Series is not a target date, but if returning in time for London was not a possibility, Thomson would have ruled it out.
A June 8 return means Turner would beat the initial six-week timeline by 16 days. There is still plenty of work that needs to be done before that happens.
In addition to taking batting practice on the field, Turner still has to progress to baserunning, sliding, facing live pitching and a rehab assignment. He has also yet to begin tracking pitches in the cages on the HitTrax machine, according to Thomson.
Turner was playing at an MVP-level pace before going down with an injury. He holds a .343/.392/.460 slash line with 12 extra-base hits and 10 stolen bases. Despite missing the last two weeks, Turner is still tied for fourth with Bryce Harper on the Phillies with 1.5 FanGraphs wins above replacement.
The Phillies have gone 10-3 without their star shortstop. A big part of why the Phillies haven’t missed a beat is because Edmundo Sosa has been on a tear. Sosa, who has received the bulk of the playing time at shortstop in Turner’s absence, is slashing .323/.462/.516 since May 4.
