Washington Nationals Prospect Profile: Trea Turner
By Shane Miller
Trea Turner has only played 26 games in the Washington Nationals minor league system and in most people’s opinion, he is the best position player in their system. Turner was traded to the Nationals December 19th as a player to be named later in a three team trade that sent Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Wil Myers to the San Diego Padres and Nationals outfielder Steven Souza to the Rays. Turner, who was the Padres 2014 first round pick, was not eligible to be traded until a year after he was drafted. He officially became part of the Nationals organization on June 14th.
Turner is putting together a great first full season as a professional, hitting .318/.368/.472, seven home runs, 45 RBI, 48 runs scored and 17 stolen bases. Turner can accredit a lot of his success to his patience at the plate. He has drawn 27 walks in 2015 and has also shown supreme focus as he was playing in an organization that had traded him and didn’t have to show any loyalty to him at all. They could have benched him if they chose to do so.
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Turner started his Nationals career with double-A Harrisburg, where he completely tore it up for the ten games he was there. He slashed .359/.366/.513 with no home runs, four RBI, six runs scored and four stolen bases, which led to his promotion to triple-A Syracuse. He has been in Syracuse for 16 games and has hit a little bit of a speed bump until recently. He is slashing .276/.300/.448 with two home runs, six RBI, 11 runs scored and two stolen bases. This has been the only level where he has had a little trouble adjusting to. It seems like he is struggling with being patient at this level as he has only walked twice and struck out 13 times. Once the shortstop fully adjusts to International League pitching, I fully expect him to continue to rake as he’s done all season. Turner appeared in the MLB Futures Game for Team USA on Sunday and went 2-for-2 with a double, triple, and two RBI’s.
Current Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond is a free agent at the end of the year, which could mean that Turner could be the Nationals big league starting shortstop as soon as next season. When I watch Turner and see his game the first comparison that comes to my mind is Colorado Rockies All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. This is a big comparison I know and it may never come to fruition. but he’s got all the tools. He hits for average and power, has good speed, and plays great defense and shows good range at shortstop. Trea Turner is currently the third best prospect in the Washington Nationals system according to MLB Pipeline.