Justin Turner’s unique All-Star case

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By Jon Weisman

From non-roster player … to valuable bench piece … to starting third baseman … to All-Star?

Each step of Justin Turner’s journey in the past 18 months has seemed improbable, but his showstopping offensive performance as a Dodger has turned the most unlikely step of all into potential reality.

To be clear, Turner won’t be elected as a starter, not in a year that began with him off the ballot, and not when there are well-known and well-performing National League third baseman like Todd Frazier (22 home runs), Nolan Arenado (17 homers and Gold Glove defense),  Matt Carpenter (grrrr) and even Cubs rookie Kris Bryant.

Given how deep the NL is at third base, odds are still against Turner making the All-Star team as a reserve.

MLB leaders in adjusted OPS since 2014 (min. 400 PA), via Baseball-Reference.com

That being said, Turner is the NL’s ninth-best position player at any position, according to Fangraphs’ wins above replacement. So it’s not as if a strong case can’t be made for him — and the fact that Turner can play multiple positions could help.

Turner’s situation reminds me a bit of current Kansas City vote-sapper Omar Infante from 2010. Infante made it to the NL All-Star team that year despite starting only 41 games in the first half of the season (and less than 20 at any single position).

The main difference is that Turner’s 2015 season is noticeably better. Infante hit .332/.358/.404 before the All-Star break in 2010. Turner is hitting .333/.401/.579.

Turner isn’t a half-season wonder, either. He is hitting .338/.403/.523 in 499 plate appearances as a Dodger, including a .363/.431/.577 mark in 413 plate appearances over the past 13 months. Since 2014, the only big-league players with a higher adjusted OPS than Turner are Paul Goldschmidt and Mike Trout.

The weirdest thing is this: It’s not impossible that Turner could play second or third base in the All-Star Game this year, just as the Dodgers’ newest second-or-third baseman, Hector Olivera, might be making his MLB debut.

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From the Dodgers’ public relations department:

TURN-ED UP: Justin Turner has homered in three consecutive games for the first time in his career and this weekend became just the third all-time Dodger to homer in each game of a series against the Giants (series of three or more games), joining Frank Howard (July 27-29, 1962) and Franklin Stubbs (April 11-13, 1986) – Source: Stats, LLC. He’s already established a career high with nine homers, surpassing his previous high mark of seven set last year.

• Turner has hit safely in 22 consecutive games as a starter and is batting .383 (23-for-60) in 19 June games, the second-best mark in the NL behind only Bryce Harper (.397). Overall, he ranks fourth in the NL in batting average (min. 150 AB) with his .333 mark trailing only Paul Goldschmidt (.356), Dee Gordon (.356) and Harper (.345).
• In five games batting in the third spot in the lineup, Turner has posted a .400/.526/1.133 slashline, going 6-for-15 with two doubles, three homers and six RBI.