In Sunday’s 5-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner stole his first base of the 2024 season in the bottom of the seventh inning. He would eventually score what was the game-winning run on an Alec Bohm single.
Bohm’s single was a flare that was nearly caught by Braves left fielder Adam Duvall. It’s safe to assume if Turner was standing on first base instead of second, he wouldn’t have scored on the play.
Turner’s seventh-inning stolen bag wasn’t just an important part of the Phillies’ win. It was also the continuation of a special streak.
Turner has now swiped 36 consecutive bases without being thrown out during the regular season. His current streak began when he stole second base against the San Francisco Giants in a game on Sept. 6, 2022, when he was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The last time Turner was thrown out attempting to steal a base during the regular season was Sept. 5, 2022.
According to the Phillies, Turner’s current stolen-base streak is the longest such streak since Coco Crisp stole 36 consecutive bases spanning the 2011 and 2012 regular seasons.
Turner went 30-for-30 in stolen base attempts last year, becoming the sixth Phillies player to steal at least 30 bases in a single season, joining Bobby Abreu, Lenny Dykstra, Jimmy Rollins, Juan Samuel and Shane Victorino.
There was some discussion before last year about whether or not Turner would be able to steal 50 or more bases. Coupling his speed with the new rule changes, such as bigger bases and the pickoff limits given to pitchers, made that idea not-so-ridiculous.
But during an interview with MLB Network before last season, Turner talked about efficiency instead of a high total when it came to swiping bags by saying, “I feel like the pressure’s on to steal like 60, 70 bases… But for me I always want to score runs, so however many stolen bases we need as a team to score those runs, I think that’s [what’s] important to me. But it’s just being efficient and taking what they give us.”
Turner’s stolen base efficiency hasn’t just been on display since early September 2022. He’s been one of the better base stealers in baseball since his debut.
Entering Sunday, Turner was 260-for-302 in stolen base attempts during his career. That stolen base total is third-best among active players, trailing only Starling Marte and Jose Altuve. His stolen base percentage (86.09%) is the best among active players with at least 150 career stolen base attempts.
Some people wanted Turner to be more aggressive on the bases last year. They thought he was wasting opportunities by standing on first and not trying to steal second. But just because someone is fast, doesn’t mean they should attempt to steal a bag whenever they’re on base.
Turner is smart about the whole base-stealing thing. He doesn’t run just to run. He likes to pick his spots, allowing certain situations to dictate whether or not he should go for it. All of that has led to his impressive streak of stealing 36 consecutive bags. Sometimes, quality is better than quantity.
Other must-read Phillies content
- The Phillies recorded their first win of the year on Sunday in come-from-behind fashion. Phillies Nation’s Nathan Ackerman has the recap of the thrilling victory.
- Bryce Harper wasn’t in the Phillies lineup on Sunday. But there’s nothing to worry about as it was a scheduled day off. Phillies Nation‘s Tim Kelly has more on Harper’s situation, including how he’s feeling after taking a nasty spill during Saturday’s game.
- The Phillies wore their cream uniforms twice over the weekend and they seem to be a bit different than in previous years.
- ICYMI: Here are the Phillies 2024 walk-up songs.
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