Tuesday, October 27

Welcome to the latest edition of the Phillies Beat newsletter. This version was written by Paul Casella, who has been based in Philadelphia since 2019 and covers the team alongside Todd Zolecki.

SEATTLE -- Trea Turner is once again searching for answers at the plate -- and what better place to get them than from one of the greatest hitters of all time?

The slumping Turner spent some time talking to Hall of Famer and Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki on the outfield grass prior to Tuesday night's game at T-Mobile Park.

"Talking with him about his mindset and what he physically does, a lot of it kind of applied to me in my game," Turner said. "It was kind of nice just hearing him, trying to ask him as many questions as possible."

Meanwhile, interim manager Don Mattingly asked a few questions of his own when questioned about Turner sticking in the No. 2 spot in the lineup.

“Where do you want me to put him?" Mattingly asked rhetorically. "And who do you want me to put there?”

Sure, there's Bryson Stott -- who has been hitting the ball well for months now -- but that would give the Phillies four straight left-handed hitters atop the lineup. The only realistic right-handed option is Alec Bohm, and the Phillies likely don't want to mess with him now that he's finally hit his stride in recent weeks.

"You've just got to hang in with guys over the course of a season," Mattingly said on Wednesday in Seattle. "And if there’s a point where it’s like, ‘OK, this has gotta go,’ then you get there. But right now, for me, it feels like ... panic when you start making changes like that late in the year."

There's no denying that Turner is in the midst of the worst season of his big league career -- both offensively and defensively. One year after hitting .304, the reigning National League batting champion is hitting just .239 with a .671 OPS.

He ranks 100th out of 138 qualified hitters in batting average. He's 124th in OPS.

"Obviously he's a guy that’s struggling right now," Mattingly said. " ... I think just, in general, Trea just is out there too far. He’s not letting the ball get to him and not getting into good counts at all.”

That last part is the key -- and it all starts with the very first pitch.

Entering Wednesday, when Turner gets ahead even just 1-0, he's hitting .303. That's not far off from last season, when he hit .313 in those situations.

But when he falls behind 0-1?

Turner is hitting just .167 (44-for-263) in those at-bats. He hit .294 last year and is a career .260 hitter in that unfavorable spot.

Overall, Turner is hitting just .181 (36-for-199) with 72 strikeouts when behind in the count. He hit .286 when behind the count last season.

Maybe that pregame conversation with one of the greatest hitters of all time can help.

"A lot of it was kind of really, '[What if I'm] flying open? How do you hit the ball the other way? What are your thoughts? What's your approach in certain situations? If you were doing this wrong, what would you do?'" Turner said. "Different hitting drills, just all sorts of stuff. It was great being able to pick his brain, and I really enjoyed it."

The biggest thing Turner needs to correct right now is that "flying open" portion. He made an adjustment on Tuesday night, but still went 0-for-4 before going 0-for-5 on Wednesday.

There was hope that he had turned a corner coming out of the All-Star break. Turner started the second half with a 21-game stretch in which he hit .318 with seven homers and a .983 OPS.

But then he went 0-for-6 with three strikeouts in an Aug. 9 game against the Blue Jays, and it's been more of that first-half funk ever since.

"I think we all know that Trea's gonna come out of this," Mattingly said. "And when he does, he'll get hot."

And who knows, maybe he’ll have Ichiro to thank for it.

One inning after Bryce Harper hit his 390th career home run on Wednesday, Kyle Schwarber hit his 380th. As things stand now, Harper is on pace to finish this season with 395 career home runs, while Schwarber is on pace to end it with 388.

Schwarber’s latest shot made him the first player to reach the 40-homer mark this season. It’s his fourth career 40-homer season, tying Ryan Howard for the most such seasons in franchise history.

Schwarber’s four 40-homer seasons are also tied with Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge for the most among all active players.

The Phillies will host their first-ever watch party at Citizens Bank Park for Sunday’s series finale against the Angels.

The new “Phillies Open House & Watch Party,” which will be held in the Cadillac Hall of Fame Club, will give fans the chance to watch the club’s 4 p.m. ET game on the giant left-field videoboard.

While tickets for this event are sold out -- with net proceeds benefiting Phillies Charities, Inc. -- the Phillies' other remaining promotions and giveaway can all be found here.

To subscribe to Phillies Beat, visit this page and mark "Phillies Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Phillies or that they're checked as your favorite team.

View Online

© 2026 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Please review our Privacy Policy.

You (mlb-newsletters@mlb.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB. 

Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.

Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.