RADIO
Trea Turner 2019 Outlook: A Safe Bet For Steals
6 years agoIt’s not often that a player will finish with the second-most stolen bases in all of baseball and leave his owners disappointed, but many Trea Turner owners expected more in 2018. Expectations were sky-high for Turner after he swiped 79 bags in 171 games between 2016-2017, which made his 43 in 162 games in 2018 both underwhelming and surprising. When a player has a start drop in steal rate it often makes sense to look at the team’s manager, but rookie skipper Dave Martinez did not instill an overall philosophy change regarding the stolen base. As a team, the Nationals stole 11 more bases in 2018 compared to 2017 under Dusty Baker. The good news is that he picked up the pace in the second half of 2018. He stole 22 bases in 386 plate appearances games in the first half compared to 21 in 278 plate appearances in the second half. The second-half rate of one steal per 13.2 plate appearances was still below his 2017 rate of one steal per 9.7 plate appearances, but it was still nice to see him run more as the season progressed. No, he’s not a top-five pick anymore, but he’s a solid top-15 guy and a safe bet to steal at least 40 bags if healthy.
