Turner with Phillies on road, continuing to check off boxes
Turner with Phillies on road, continuing to check off boxes originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
DENVER — He won't be back in the next two series but Trea Turner joined the Phillies on their six-game road trip to Colorado and San Francisco and continues to ramp up his rehab of a hamstring strain.
Turner suffered the injury on May 3 and said at the time that he expected to miss six weeks. Yet exactly three weeks later, he's already checked off several boxes.
Turner did distance running Friday at Coors Field, took groundballs and hit in the batting cage.
The Phillies plan to have Turner hit early on the field Saturday and run at 90% speed.
"Tomorrow will be a heavy day," manager Rob Thomson said.
If Turner responds well to this weekend's work, he would then run the bases full speed in San Francisco, where the Phillies are from Monday through Wednesday.
Hamstrings are tricky to rehab and there's a risk of aggravation when a player comes back too quickly. That's essentially where the Phillies are right now with Turner — he feels good, but they're taking their time regardless to reduce the risk of re-injury.
"I'm pretty confident with how he's coming around," Thomson said. "He doesn't feel anything. We're just being cautious, really. We do not want re-injury because that would take even longer to heal."
In 15 games as the primary shortstop in Turner's stead, Edmundo Sosa has gone 15-for-42 (.357) with three doubles, two triples, a homer, nine RBI and 13 runs scored.
Sosa is hitting .323 overall this season and a more-than-respectable .271/.321/.468 in 432 plate appearances as a Phillie.
He's utilized the whole field more than ever before, pulling the ball in 39% of his plate appearances compared to 47% the prior two seasons.
