Trea Turner ranked 4th best Shortstop by MLB Network

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

MLB Network Press Release

TREA TURNER RANKED 4TH ON MLB NETWORK’S TOP 10 SHORTSTOPS RIGHT NOW!

Watch Video Recap of Turner’s Top-Ten Ranking Here

January 30, 2017 – Washington Nationals shortstop Trea Turner was ranked 4th on MLB Network’s Top 10 Shortstops Right Now! program yesterday. Turner finished one spot ahead of the Giants’ Brandon Crawford and one spot behind the Astros’ Carlos Correa.Taking into account player performance over several seasons with an emphasis on 2016, a number of offensive and defensive metrics both advanced and traditional, and projected performance for the upcoming season, MLB Network’s Top 10 Right Now! series ranks the top players at each position heading into the 2017 season.

In addition to Turner, Nationals teammate Max Scherzer ranked 2nd on MLB Network’s Top 10 Starting Pitchers Right Now! list last week, while teammate Daniel Murphy ranked 3rd on the Top 10 Second Basemen Right Now! list and Anthony Rendon ranked 9th on the Top 10 Third Basemen Right Now! list two weeks ago.

The complete ranking of shortstops is listed below, and an embeddable video recap on Turner can be seen here:

Top 10 Shortstops Right Now!

  1. Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers
  2. Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians
  3. Carlos Correa, Houston Astros
  4. Trea Turner, Washington Nationals
  5. Brandon Crawford, San Francisco Giants
  6. Trevor Story, Colorado Rockies
  7. Aledmys Diaz, St. Louis Cardinals
  8. Xander Bogaerts, Boston Red Sox
  9. Troy Tulowitzki, Toronto Blue Jays
  10. Addison Russell, Chicago Cubs

In other off the field news, Trea Turner was the celebrity guest at the Washington Auto Show last night. In true “baller style” Trea flew in before the event and flew back out right after the event. There were a few hundred of his fans in attendance who got photos with Trea and received an autographed Auto Show card.

In his interview with Events DC, Lamborghini was Trea’s choice for a car! In 5th grade, Trea admitted he didn’t make the cut in his elementary school for the trip to Washington, D.C. “I wanted to but I guess I wasn’t allowed at the time… A little sad [about it at the time]. But now I get to be here a little more than that.”

We learned some other pieces of trivia along the way also, and since this was the Auto Show, we learned that Trea’s current car is a Range Rover Sport.

Trea was also featured on MLB’s Cut 4 two weeks ago as they filmed him working out at the North Carolina State where Trea has been doing his off-season conditioning.

“Excited to have an opportunity to go back there,”  Trea Turner said about a position change back to shortstop. “I think that’s where I’m most comfortable [at shortstop], and it’s where I played the majority of my career. And I look forward to trying to prove that I can play there at a high level and be consistent.”

The one thing you did not see in any of Trea’s work-outs videos or photos from that session was any excessive weights. You saw a lot of strength, conditioning, and speed drills with a concentration on the core.

“I think everybody is always pushing to improve consistency,” Trea Turner continued. “I felt like, I guess it was a long time ago, but the last 20-30 games I played in Syracuse at short, I felt really consistent, not making just stupid mistakes. I think it’s a matter of being able to throw on the run accurately and doing the difficult things more routine, and I think that’s how you play good shortstop, play good defense behind the pitchers and save some runs.”

At the Winter NatsFest, Trea talked about the grind of the long season and maintaining his strength. It was the longest season of his career transitioning from college to a full season of Minor League ball to a season that extended beyond the regular season into the post-season of which Turner was an integral part of.

“I lost a little bit of weight at the end of the year, but I still felt strong,” Turner said. “It’s not so much weight anymore, it’s just about strength and I guess you’re always trying to get a little bit stronger, but I’m not worried as much as just being ready, getting all the aches and pains or whatever it may be from a long season out of the way and just being healthy and ready to go and I think I’ve done that and I’m excited.”

Artwork for TalkNats.com by Jjgraphics38 on Instagram and Twitter

Artwork for TalkNats.com by Jjgraphics38 on Instagram and Twitter

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