Of all the talent on the Los Angeles Dodgers roster, perhaps no one is of more significance than Justin Turner. That was particularly evident last season when Turner began the 2018 campaign on the 10-day disabled list.
It was a result of Turner suffering a fractured left wrist when he was hit by a pitch deep into Spring Training. Turner didn’t make his regular-season debut until the middle of May.
Without him, the Dodgers got off to the worst 40-game start in Los Angeles franchise history at 16-24. L.A. dropped each of the first two games after Turner returned, but then rattled off eight wins in their next 10.
Despite battling lingering soreness in his wrist, Turner was his consistent self. He’s now in the midst of wrapping up another stellar Spring Training and ready to begin the 2019 season, via SportsNet LA:
“I think this is the time of spring where everyone’s ready to head back to L.A. and get this thing going. It’s a good time to feel good and confident, and I feel pretty good right now. … You come to Spring Training and you want to work on things, make sure your timing is good. You go into every day and try to take some information from your at-bats and then show up the next day and put in the work on things you want to clean up a little bit. The results have been good, but the timing and everything have felt great all spring, and that’s the important part.”
The 34-year-old is hitting a blistering .474/.563/.868 with six doubles, three home runs and nine RBI through 16 Cactus League games. He leads the team in total hits (18), doubles and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.431), is tied for the lead in homers and ranks fourth in RBI.
Turner is on track to bat at least .333 in each of his six Spring Trainings with the Dodgers.
