The swing doctor is in: Phils' bats boosted by Turner talks
Todd Zolecki
@ToddZoleckiThis story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki's Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
PHILADELPHIA -- Bryce Harper's grand slam on Tuesday was his third homer in three games. After he homered for the second time in two days on Monday, he mentioned a conversation he'd had on Sunday with Trea Turner.
¡°I¡¯ve been talking to Trea a little bit about some swing stuff and seeing what he thinks,¡± Harper said.
A couple of weeks earlier in Cincinnati, Johan Rojas recalled a conversation he had with Turner before the Phils' game against the Rockies on April 17. They talked mechanics, but Turner also showed Rojas video of Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts. Rojas had a .429 OPS before the chat. He doubled that night, and he has posted a .641 OPS since, including a game-winning homer in the ninth inning on April 30 against the Angels.
Before that, Turner and Alec Bohm conversed in St. Louis. Bohm batted .233 with a .676 OPS in his first nine games. He is batting .384 with a 1.068 OPS since.
So what¡¯s with these Phillies hitters and their conversations with Turner?
¡°I¡¯ve had some luck where I¡¯ve talked to some guys and they¡¯ve immediately had some success,¡± Turner said on Tuesday afternoon. ¡°You know, you¡¯re in the cage, you¡¯re talking about hitting and you¡¯re trying to fix something. And if you find a fix and you go out there and immediately see results, you¡¯re like, 'Oh, that¡¯s it.'¡±
A joke has started to spread in the Phillies' clubhouse: ¡°Who¡¯s next?¡±
¡°It¡¯s definitely not me, because they all have to go out there and play,¡± Turner said. ¡°They¡¯re really good players. But sometimes it¡¯s just saying, ¡®Hey, I see this.¡¯ Maybe that¡¯s what they were already thinking. Maybe they hadn¡¯t thought about it. I don¡¯t know what it is, but I think I¡¯ve gotten kind of lucky.¡±
Harper had been chasing too many pitches out of the zone and missing too many pitches in the zone. Turner experienced the same issue last season.
¡°He thinks way differently than a lot of people,¡± Turner said of Harper. ¡°I¡¯m trying to figure out what he likes. I don¡¯t necessarily know certain feelings people have when they¡¯re doing well or when they¡¯re doing bad. He¡¯s a big feel guy. Some guys are natural hitters, some guys aren¡¯t. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m a natural hitter. I¡¯ve worked on my swing a lot, and I think about my swing a lot. Guys like him, he rolls out of bed and he¡¯s unbelievable.
¡°There¡¯s a lot of commonalities when somebody is doing well or bad. Last year, I talked about how I felt like I was missing pitches I should¡¯ve hit, and then I ended up chasing. He talked about that as well. He felt he was chasing a little bit, but he was more mad that he was missing mistake pitches. That can be boiled down to a few points.¡±
Turner watched video from Harper¡¯s 2021 NL MVP season. He noticed that Harper¡¯s hands were starting too late in comparison to that time.
¡°He wanted to do things he couldn¡¯t do because his hands were late,¡± Turner said.
He mentioned it to Harper.
¡°And then he goes out there and I¡¯m like, 'I hope this friggin¡¯ works,'¡± Turner said, smiling. ¡°I don¡¯t want to mess him up, you know? But I¡¯m glad it was something that he sees, too. Like, 'Oh, that¡¯s it.' I saw it Sunday. In his first at-bat, he took three tough pitches, then hit a hard ground ball up the middle [at 109.5 mph for an out]. As soon as he did it, I was like, 'Oh, he got it.' And the next at-bat, he homered off Logan Webb. So you can tell immediately, that was the adjustment.¡±
It was no surprise that Turner showed Rojas video of Betts. Turner said he talks a lot about Betts, who is not a big guy, but who moves well enough to hit 30 homers a season.
¡°He does a lot of things right,¡± Turner said. ¡°It¡¯s not necessarily hitting like a guy. It¡¯s more the movements that all good hitters make. They¡¯re somewhat similar. Sometimes it¡¯s just showing different examples of people. Like, 'Look, this is what I¡¯m trying to tell you. Watch him.' Sometimes that makes more sense.¡±
There is an order to a swing. Even though it looks like everything happens at once, it doesn¡¯t. But it looked to Turner like Rojas actually did everything at once. Turner talked to Rojas about working on the proper sequences in the cage.
¡°You need to practice a different way or the right way,¡± Turner said. ¡°It made sense to him.¡±
Bohm¡¯s adjustment was mechanical. He was sliding -- meaning his left hip was moving toward the mound -- instead of getting his foot down and turning his body. His hands were late. As a result, he was missing pitches and getting jammed.
¡°I was telling him about his hands,¡± Turner said. ¡°I was like, 'If you don¡¯t bring your hands with you ¡ '¡±
It worked.
So, who¡¯s next?
¡°I¡¯m telling you, I¡¯ve gotten lucky,¡± Turner said. ¡°This is an all-time run. I can talk hitting to whoever and maybe it doesn¡¯t work. I¡¯m not taking the at-bat. They are. I¡¯m just like, 'Hey, this may help you.'¡±