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Trea Turner played in just 73 games for the Washington Nationals this season, after debuting in the majors in late 2015, but the 23-year-old, 2014 1st Round pick put up impressive numbers over 324 plate appearances for the NL East champs.
After posting up a .302/.370/.471 line with 22 doubles, eight triples, six home runs and 25 stolen bases in 27 attempts over 83 games and 371 PAs for the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate, Turner posted a .342/.370/.567 line with 14 doubles, eight triples, 13 home runs and 33 steals in 39 attempts in a 3.3 fWAR campaign in the nation’s capital.
Turner was named a finalist for the NL’s Rookie of the Year Award tonight, along with LA Dodgers’ infielder Corey Seager and starter Kenta Maeda.
NL BBWAA #ROY finalists:
— MLB (@MLB) November 7, 2016
Kenta Maeda@coreyseager_5@treavturner pic.twitter.com/7V3Kdkhpnf
Turner averaged 1.44 hits per game, “the fifth-highest mark by a rookie with at least 70 games,” as the Nationals mentioned in their notes for the NLDS, and he finished his first full season in D.C. with back-to-back Rookie of the Month nods.
Trea Turner hit .342 with 13 HR and 33 SB in 73 regular season games. So, yeah, he's an NL ROY finalist. pic.twitter.com/XvaUTWf5Go
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) November 7, 2016
Dusty Baker praised the rookie infielder during the NLDS, talking about how important he had been since joining the Nationals.
“He’s come here and just played and that’s what I urged him to do: just play,” Baker said.
“Just play ball the way God’s given you the ability to play. So far he’s handled it great. Even his mistakes he’s handled it great.”
He’s a long shot to take the NL ROY, but he’s a finalist.