Dodgers: Dave Roberts Points to One Issue for Justin Turner’s Recent Struggles
As things have gone well for the Dodgers as a whole, one player that was carrying the team early in the season has dipped hard in terms of offense. Justin Turner batted .330 with 6 home runs, 20 runs batted in and had an OPS of 1.005 in April, confirming to everyone that the 2-year deal he signed as a 36-year-old free agent was worth the money and then some.
However, since the calendar flipped to May, the numbers have taken a pretty drastic slide for the third baseman.
In May, JT is hitting under .200 (.190) with 1 homer and only 3 RBI in 18 games. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shared his thoughts on where Justin is at for the team.
He’s still gonna take good at-bats. He’ll still take the walk. I just see that right now, if I had to poke holes in something, I think he’s just a little late to the heater. You see there’s more velocity up to him. He’ll work through it.
Strangely, as mentioned above, Turner’s offensive dip directly coincides with the Dodgers’ streak of success. From May 1 through the 7th, the red head posted a fine .333 batting average while the team went 1-5. As the team got hot, Justin fell off a cliff. Since May 8th, LA has rattled off an 11-2 record while JT cratered hitting .133 with a .391 OPS. Although, his .182 BABIP (batting average on balls in play) tells the story that he’s hit into some bad luck of late.
It’s only 13 games, but when everything is going well, you have to find the little things to nit-pick and investigate.
The Dodgers look for the series sweep today in San Francisco with Julio Urias on the bump facing Giants’ right-hander Anthony DeSclafani at 1:05 PM.
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