Washington Nationals: 5 To watch in visit to Pittsburgh

Trea Turner

With the exception of that great week in Colorado, it has been a rough start to the season for Turner. He had the hamstring injury to begin the year and his statistical numbers are not as good as people expect.

Against the Phillies this past weekend, he was 2-for-13, but both of his hits were home runs. Plus, he drove in a run each of those games (five RBI’s total). Those five RBI’s are what he has the entire month as he is just 8-for-50 (.160) with 16 strikeouts.

When Turner was put back in the leadoff spot after the Adam Eaton injury, everyone thought he would be the player that sparked the offense last year and stole bases. Well, the offense is doing great now and Turner only has three stolen base attempts the whole month.

Turner is averaging 4.07 pitches per plate appearances this month, but you get the sense that he’s pressing a little bit at the plate, which is leading to more strikeouts. Despite his struggles at the plate, his defense has been still great to watch at shortstop.

Last year, Turner had his struggles against the Pirates. He was 6-for-25 at the plate (all singles) with 11 strikeouts (most on the Nats). The 11 strikeouts were the most that he had against any team in 2016.

It’s good to see Turner hitting home runs, but the Nats need him to find a way to get on base and steal runs on days where the ball isn’t flying out of the ballpark. We will see if his success at the plate starts this week against the Pirates.