Could a Position Change Be Coming for Philadelphia Phillies Superstar?

There could be a surprising position change for one of the Philadelphia Phillies superstars coming at some point.

Aug 25, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Trea Turner (7) throws to second base for an out in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium / Peter Aiken-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies are coming off two straight wins against the Tampa Bay Rays that locked up a series victory, but they'll have a chance to sweep on Wednesday before moving onto a huge showdown with their division rivals starting this weekend.

Both contests for the Phillies have been whacky, something that started with some late-game drama that saw a dropped home run robbery before winning in walk-off fashion, and ended with Kyle Schwarber making Major League Baseball history on Tuesday before he left the game with an injury, and the benches clearing when Nick Castellanos took exception to getting plunked.

Amid all that craziness, Trea Turner was able to breakthrough with two much needed home runs.

The star shortstop had been putting together a great bounce back season throughout this campaign, but had gone through a bit of a prolonged slump when it came to driving runners in from scoring position and putting balls over the fence.

That changed when he blasted his first one 381 feet to left center field that gave Philadelphia a 4-2 lead, and followed that up with his second one traveling 376 feet to virtually the same spot that was an exclamation point on their 9-4 victory.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for Turner as they are just under a month away from starting the playoffs, but there are some other concerns centered around the defense of the high-priced shortstop.

When taking a look at his errors and poor fielding numbers, Ben Rosen of Last Word On Sports thinks the Phillies are going to change the defensive position of Turner at some point during his tenure with the team.

"A position change for Philadelphia Phillies star Trea Turner now looks inevitable ... he has been so bad defensively at shortstop that the position change timeline needs to be moved up. Making the switch during the offseason must be on the table ... But since keeping Turner at shortstop beyond this season hurts the Phillies' defense significantly, a position change is necessary," he writes.

Rosen does a good job of diving into the numbers.

His -12 in Defensive Runs Saved is second-worst among shortstops and his -3 Outs Above Average is fourth-worst. 10 of Turner's 16 errors have come when fielding the ball, while the other six are attributed to throws.

His .957 fielding percentage is the lowest of his career at shortstop when he's played 800-plus innings in a single season.

That's concerning for Philadelphia moving forward.

Since signing his 11-year, $300 million contract, Turner has been the worst defensive shortstop in baseball with -24 Defensive Runs Saved, -7 Outs Above Average and a -5 Fielding Run Value.

This is something the Phillies can't take lightly.

In the short-term, maybe they can move Bryson Stott back over to shortstop and put Turner at second base, a position he's only played 91 times at the Major League level with 79 starts. His fielding percentage is .980 and he has seven errors there, but that would be a quick fix.

Either way, this is something to keep an eye on going forward as some infield changes could be coming to Philadelphia as soon as next year.