Washington Nationals: Creating the ultimate superstar
By Brian Foley
Speed: Trea Turner
When you’re looking for wheels, the Nationals have a couple burners in the middle infield. According to a 2017 MLB Statcast study, Wilmer Difo was the second-fastest shortstop in baseball last year, only to be bested by another Nats’ shortstop: Trea Turner.
Turner covers over 29 feet per second on average, and has swiped 79 bases in 93 attempts in just 171 games since the start of 2016. That is a 75-steal pace over a full 162-game season, which would be the most since Jose Reyes nabbed 78 bags in 2007. It remains to be seen how much the Nationals will run under new skipper Davey Martinez, but Turner’s blistering speed should earn him a permanent green light.
In that video, it never looked like Turner even flipped on the jets. His cruising speed tops almost every other player in the league; his max-effort acceleration is virtually unstoppable.