Ask any Dodger fan who the team’s best hitter is and more often than not they will answer Adrian Gonzalez – and with good cause. The 33-year-old Dodgers first baseman is hitting his 12-year MLB career average on the button – .292. He has also hit 24 home runs, which is only five shy of his career 162-game average with 45 games remaining in the regular season. In a word, AGon is the most consistent hitter on the Dodgers roster, but he is not their best hitter. That prestigious title actually goes to 30-year-old utility infielder Justin Turner.

Over the past two seasons Turner is 183 for 548, which is a .334 batting average – the best two-year average in the majors. And while Turner may not have the pop that AGon does, his 14 home runs and 47 RBIs rank fourth and third on the team respectively.

If you don’t think Justin Turner is among the best players on the team, just asked yourself where the Dodgers would be without him. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

So why, then, isn’t the Long Beach native included in the MLB.com statistics among the league leaders in hitting? The answer to this is simple – he does not have the requisite number of plate appearances – a brutal trade off for being a utility player as opposed to an everyday player regardless of how good he is. This enigma also cost Turner a well deserved trip to the 2015 All-Star Game as well.

In order to qualify for the MLB batting title, a player must have 3.1 plate appearances per team game originally scheduled. The Dodgers have played 117 games, which means Turner would need 362.7 plate appearances to qualify. He has 293.

This, of course, brings up the burning question – Why isn’t Justin Turner an everyday player?

According to Dodgers manager Don Mattingly this has never been the plan with him. In fact, prior to Friday night’s game, the Dodgers skipper told reporters that Turner, who was starting his first game since returning from the 15-day disabled list for a nasty staph infection, would continue in his same role with the team.

“A lot like before, our schedule now tells us we can do that for a little bit here,” Mattingly said. “[We’ll] use him similar to [how] we were before where you go a couple days a week and try to get him out of there, give him a break.”

Although Mattingly has never come right out and said that Turner has been dealing with any chronic or lingering injuries, he has suggested that the extremely popular redhead has had calf issues in the past. However, this has not landed Turner on the disabled list and it is Mattingly’s belief that giving him occasional days off will keep it that way – a wise decision heading into the final seven weeks of the season.