Trea Turner
Trea Vance Turner is an American professional baseball shortstop for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball. He played college baseball at North Carolina State. The San Diego Padres selected Turner in the first round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft, and traded him to the Nationals in 2015. Turner made his MLB debut with the Nationals on August 21, 2015.
Developed by the Padres and Nationals primarily as a shortstop, Turner broke into the major leagues in the 2016 season as Washington's starting center fielder, before returning to what he considers his "natural position" as the Nationals shortstop starting in the 2017 season. He has also made a handful of major league appearances at second base. He is one of the fastest runners in Major League Baseball, having been clocked at a speed of at least twice in 2016.
Amateur career
Turner attended Park Vista Community High School in Lake Worth, Florida, where he played for his school's baseball team. Turner was lightly recruited by college programs, only receiving scholarship offers from NC State and Florida Atlantic University. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Turner in the 20th round, with the 602nd overall selection, of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft. Turner opted to attend NC State, to play college baseball for the NC State Wolfpack baseball team in the Atlantic Coast Conference the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I.As a freshman in 2012, Turner shifted from the shortstop position to play as a third baseman. That year, he had a.336 batting average, a.432 on-base percentage, and recorded 57 stolen bases while only being caught stealing four times. His 57 steals were more than the team totals of 158 Division I teams, and set an NC State record. He also tied the ACC record for steals in one game with five. Turner was named to the All-Tournament Team in the 2012 ACC Tournament.
In 2013, Turner had a.378 batting average with seven home runs, 41 runs batted in, and 27 stolen bases. He was named to the All-ACC first team, and was named a second team All-American by Perfect Game and a third team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Baseball America. He was named a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, given to the best shortstop in NCAA's Division I. That summer, Turner played for the United States national collegiate baseball team. As a junior in 2014, he hit.321 with eight home runs and 26 stolen bases. After the season, he was named the winner of the Brooks Wallace Award.
Professional career
2014: Drafted and traded
San Diego Padres
Aaron Fitt of Baseball America considered Turner a likely first round choice in the 2014 MLB draft. The San Diego Padres selected Turner in the first round, with the 13th overall selection. He signed on June 13, receiving a $2.9 million signing bonus. He made his professional debut three days later with the Eugene Emeralds of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League. After he batted.228 in 26 games for Eugene, the Padres promoted him to the Fort Wayne TinCaps of the Class A Midwest League, where he batted.369 in 46 games. The Padres assigned him to play for the Surprise Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League after the regular season.Washington Nationals
On December 19, 2014, the Padres reportedly agreed to trade Turner to the Washington Nationals as a player to be named later as part of a three-team trade, in which the Padres traded Jake Bauers, Burch Smith, and René Rivera to the Tampa Bay Rays and Joe Ross to Washington, and Washington traded Steven Souza and Travis Ott to Tampa Bay, and Tampa traded Wil Myers to San Diego. This unusual arrangement was a result of Turner being ineligible to be traded before mid-June because of MLB rules that prevent players to be traded within a year of their being drafted. Turner's agent, Jeff Berry, stated to the media that it was an unfair process to force him to play half the season for a team that traded him and had no further interest in promoting his development. He claimed he would be filing a grievance through the players' union.2015: Major league debut
Turner reported to spring training with the Padres as a non-roster invitee, and the Padres assigned him to the San Antonio Missions of the Class AA Texas League. He hit.322 with five home runs and 35 RBIs with 11 stolen bases for San Antonio. On June 14, 2015, Turner was sent to the Nationals to complete the trade made in December, and was assigned to the Harrisburg Senators of the Class AA Eastern League. After playing ten games for Harrisburg, the Nationals promoted Turner to the Syracuse Chiefs of the Class AAA International League. Turner represented the Nationals at the 2015 All-Star Futures Game.On August 21, 2015, the Nationals promoted Turner to the major leagues. He made his MLB debut that night. Turner went nine at-bats before collecting his first MLB hit on September 3, beating out a ground ball to reach first base safely. He finished the 2015 season with a.225 batting average through 40 at-bats with one home run and one RBI.
2016
In spring training in 2016, Turner competed with Danny Espinosa and Stephen Drew to be the Nationals starting shortstop. The Nationals optioned Turner to Syracuse at the end of spring training. Turner was called up on June 3, 2016, for a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. He went 3-for-3 with a walk in his first game of the season at MLB, playing second base and shortstop. He was optioned back to Syracuse at the end of the series, as first baseman Ryan Zimmerman was reactivated from paternity leave.With Michael A. Taylor and Ben Revere turning in lackluster offensive performances as the Nationals' primary center fielders, and Espinosa performing well as the team's everyday shortstop, Turner began getting starts in center field with the Chiefs midway through the season. He debuted in center field on June 27, his first professional appearance as an outfielder, and after being recalled by the Nationals in July, Turner made his first major league start in center field on July 26.
Turner won the Major League Baseball Rookie of the Month Award in the National League for his performance in August 2016, hitting.357 on the month with five home runs and 11 stolen bases. He finished second in National League Rookie of the Year Award balloting.
2017
In 2017, Turner moved back to his natural position of shortstop, after the club acquired Adam Eaton to play center field and traded starting shortstop Danny Espinosa to the Los Angeles Angels. On April 9, Turner was placed on the 10-day disabled list due to tightness in his hamstring. On April 25, Turner hit for the cycle against the Colorado Rockies. The following night, Turner came a triple shy of back-to-back cycles.Turner stole four bases against the New York Mets in a June 18 game to set a personal best and tie Marquis Grissom for the franchise record. He tied the record again with four steals off the Chicago Cubs in just three innings on June 27, helping the Nationals to a team record of seven stolen bases in the game. Two days later, Turner was hit on the right wrist by a fastball from Cubs reliever Pedro Strop and suffered a non-displaced fracture, sending him to the 10-day disabled list for the second time in the season. Turner told The Washington Post's Thomas Boswell it was the first time since he was 12 that he had broken a bone, though he claimed the injury "didn't feel that bad" after Strop's pitch hit him, and he remained in the game for an inning and a half before being lifted for a defensive substitute. The Nationals purchased the contract of infielder Adrián Sánchez from the Class-AAA Syracuse Chiefs to take Turner's place on the roster. Turner was activated from the disabled list on August 28 and made his return to the lineup the following night against the Miami Marlins.
2018
In 2018, Turner started the year with the big league club. On July 5, Turner had eight RBIs and hit his first career grand slam during a franchise-record 9-run comeback against the Miami Marlins. On July 8, Turner was announced as one of the five candidates in the 2018 All-Star Final Vote.He finished the season with an NL-leading 43 stolen bases. For the season, he batted.271/.344/.416. He also was 3rd in the league in power-speed number. He had the fastest baserunning sprint speed of all major league shortstops, at 30.1 feet/second.
2019
On April 2, 2019, Turner suffered a broken right index finger while attempting to bunt during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies; he did not play again until May 17. On July 23, Turner hit for the cycle for the second time in his career; as with his first cycle, it came in a game against the Colorado Rockies. This time it occurred at Nationals Park and was first cycle ever hit against the Rockies away from Coors Field. Overall during the 2019 regular season, Turner hit.298/.353/.497 with 19 home runs in 122 games. He finished second in the NL with 35 stolen bases, behind Ronald Acuña Jr. who had 37. Turner had the fastest sprint speed of all major league shortstops, at 30.3 feet/second.In the NL Wild Card Game, Turner hit his first career postseason home run off of Brandon Woodruff of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Nationals defeated the Brewers and went on to win the World Series over the Houston Astros, earning the first championship in franchise history. On November 16, Turner underwent surgery on his right index finger.
Personal life
Turner was born in Boynton Beach, Florida, on June 30, 1993, to parents Mark and Donna. He has an older sister, Teal. He met his future wife, Kristen Harabedian, when they both attended North Carolina State, where Harabedian was a gymnast. Harabedian had also competed in high school gymnastics, and, on January 18, 2010, was featured by Faces in the Crowd in Sports Illustrated. Turner and Harabedian married in November 2018 at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Washington, D.C.During the 2018 season, Twitter posts Turner made during college using derogatory language, particularly anti-gay and -mentally disabled slurs, became public. Turner became the third player to have offensive tweets from his past discovered in the month of July 2018, following Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Josh Hader and Atlanta Braves pitcher Sean Newcomb. Turner apologized for the social media postings and said he took full responsibility at a tearful press conference called before the Nationals' next game.