Dodgers’ Justin Turner has a ball after a long journey to becoming an All-Star
Eight boxes lined a table of memorabilia inside the National League clubhouse at Marlins Park. Inside each box sat 12 baseballs.
Justin Turner grabbed a seat in a folding chair and clutched a pen. At the All-Star game, you do not have to stop and pinch yourself; you get to sign your name dozens of times as a reminder of your achievement.
Of all the players assembled at the Midsummer Classic, Turner may have taken the most circuitous path. He has been traded and waived and nontendered. He failed his physical when he agreed to become a Dodger in 2014, which forced him to sign a minor league deal. Yet, he has emerged in 2017 as one of the sport’s most productive hitters, a cornerstone of a team with baseball’s best record, and a 32-year-old first-time All-Star.
Turner did not want to gloat. But he also did not want to forget.
“It just reassures myself that I made the right decisions all along,” said Turner, who went 0 for 1 in the 2-1 American League victory. “It’s crazy the path that I’ve taken here. Not everyone has a straight-line path to All-Star games and accolades and stuff like that. Mine was a little bit more rocky.”
As he signed autographs, Turner sat beside Corey Seager, the Dodgers shortstop and another of the team’s six representatives in Tuesday’s game. Seager debuted in the majors at 21, made his first All-Star team at 22 and was selected rookie of the year in his first full season.
It took Turner seven years, and three teams, to establish himself as an everyday player in the majors. He reaped the benefits of his performance by signing a four-year, $64-million contract in the offseason.
Turner did not respond to the windfall with complacency. He is playing the best baseball of his life. Among players with at least 250 plate appearances, Turner ranks first in batting average (.377), first in on-base percentage (.473) and third in on-base-plus-slugging percentage (1.056). Unable to unlock his power early in the season, he homered nine times in 26 games after returning June 9 from the disabled list. He is tied for fourth in FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement.
It was always in his personality. But now that he’s got the numbers to back it up, I think that really helps his credibility.
— Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw
In conversations with players, Turner emerges as one of the clubhouse’s pillars, holding a position similar to Clayton Kershaw and Chase Utley. Manager Dave Roberts has referred to him as “the glue” of the team. His teammates offered testimonials, and showed frustration when Turner was snubbed in the initial roster construction, and not permitted entry to the All-Star team until winning the “Final Vote” competition.
“It’s the stuff that he does in the clubhouse, the stuff that he does in the dugout,” Seager said. “The picking somebody up. Telling somebody when they did something wrong. Getting everybody on the same page. That’s the stuff that goes unnoticed that he does.”
Added Kershaw: “It was always in his personality. But now that he’s got the numbers to back it up, I think that really helps his credibility.”
Before he became a professional, Turner occupied a similar role on his teams. Frank Ravelo, Turner’s coach at Lakewood Mayfair High, and George Horton, his coach at Cal State Fullerton, used the same phrase to describe him: “Like another coach on the field.” He understood situations, he could read the swings of opponents as a defender and he could coax good counts at the plate.
“He probably doesn’t have any necessarily major league skills except for his hands and his instincts,” Horton told a newspaper in 2011.
He always swung at good pitches. So now he’s found a swing that’s dangerous.
— Washington Nationals’ Daniel Murphy
Cincinnati drafted Turner in the seventh round of the 2006 draft after his senior season at Fullerton. Two years later, the Reds put him in a package to Baltimore in exchange for well-traveled catcher Ramon Hernandez. The New York Mets claimed Turner off waivers in 2010 and made him a reserve.
Turner spent parts of four seasons in New York. In 2013, he began to hit with teammate Marlon Byrd, who set him up with hitting coach Doug Latta. That offseason, Turner added a leg kick to reshape his swing and began to envision a future as a power hitter. He was driving to San Diego to represent the Mets at a union meeting when he found out his employers would not offer him a contract for 2014.
Contacted via email, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson declined to answer questions about Turner. He forwarded an interview request to his media relations department.
“It’s been our practice to refrain from speaking about any former players that currently play with other clubs,” wrote Harold Kaufman, the team’s executive director of communications.
In an interview with The Times in 2015, Alderson described Turner as “always a sort of marginal 40-man roster guy,” but admitted “you’d have to say we missed on him.”
Turner does not like to speak ill of the Mets. He understood why the team did not have many at-bats for him, with David Wright occupying third base and Daniel Murphy handling second. But Turner did not appreciate some of the criticism that accompanied his departure, including a report suggesting he did not hustle.
On Monday, Turner reconnected with Murphy, who now plays for the Washington Nationals. They fell into a discussion about hitting almost immediately. Murphy is a hitting savant, an obsessive who grumbled during the Home Run Derby when the contestants hit grounders.
Like Turner, Murphy has also experienced a second act in his big league career. Murphy could relate to Turner’s transformation.
“He always made really, really good decisions,” Murphy said. “He always swung at good pitches. So now he’s found a swing that’s dangerous. You take a dangerous swing, and you add someone who makes good decisions, and you have an All-Star.”
On Monday afternoon, a few hours before New York Yankees rookie Aaron Judge put on a show at the Home Run Derby, the six Dodgers All-Stars posed together in the outfield at Marlins Park. As they gathered for the photo, Turner looked at all the other players assembled around the stadium.
“Standing up there,” Turner said, “looking around, and seeing all the guys — and then realizing that you’re a part of it, is pretty special.”
Twitter: @McCulloughTimes
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