Dodgers: Justin Turner’s Years-Long Postseason Struggles Continue
Justin Turner is the longest-tenured position player on the roster. He became a regular fixture at third base in 2015, and since then, it has been his position to lose, and he has not disappointed. He’s made the All-Star game twice in Dodger blue and, more importantly, is the all-time postseason leader in hits, home runs, RBIs, total bases, and games played.
However, since the 2020 postseason, Turner has not been the postseason performer we know him of.
Our very own Clint Pasillas dug up the numbers and uncovered the ugly truth about JT’s latest postseason woes.
Justin Turner is hitting .198 since the start of the 2020 postseason (22-111 over 31 games). Subtract one 4-5 game ('20 WS G4) and he's hitting .169.
He has 4 HR & 7 RBI over that span. Not the only problem for the Dodgers but definitely a concern.
— Clint Pasillas (@realFRG) October 15, 2022
Astonishing. The man who has come up clutch time and time again for the Dodgers in October looks like a shell of himself in the past three postseasons.
In these three playoff games, JT has ten at-bats, zero runs, one hit, zero XBH, zero RBIs, and zero home runs.
Compared to his first 54 career playoff games, the 37-year-old slashed .310/.411/.520 with nine home runs and 35 RBIs.
Justin Turner has been the one guy the Dodgers could turn to and get a hit or home run when needed. Now it seems every fastball is whizzing by him in the box.
Even this season, Turner got off to a slow start but finished in his last 30 games of the regular season; he was terrific, batting .342 while slugging .559. For some reason, he has not been able to translate it to October baseball.
Is JT getting too old? Should it be time for him to hang up the cleats? Only time will tell whether or not he’ll continue to play beyond this season. The Dodgers have their top-hitting prospect, Miguel Vargas, on the playoff roster, who plays third base and is only 22 years old. Maybe, Dave Roberts should go to the youngster for some spark.
We’ll see how things go with Justin tonight; I’m rooting for him, but I’m not sure he’ll perform how we need him to.
Justin Turner, Chris Taylor, Will Smith. All of them were nowhere during playoffs. They can’t hit or drive runs during all playoffs. Kike Hernandez and Joc Pederson were much better.
Why does no one mention Mookie Betts? He was terrible with a .143 average and didn’t seem to care. Oh well, time to go bowling.
Everyone still KRINGES when you read “Kike” Hernandez, how he could he dumb enough to use text message spelling for his nickname that directly spells a highly offensive Jewish Slur. You can’t be more ignorant, insensitive or dumb than that. His name is ENRIQUE, which does carry an informal, somewhat common nickname spelled “Quique” and NOT Kike. What a moron.
Time to mix in their young talent with the vets like the Guardians, Mariners, and Braves. JT’s time is done and overpriced. Team need to have athleticism to compete in today’s game.