February 20th, 2016 at 6:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Although Friday was technically the day when Dodgers pitchers and catchers reported for spring training, there are quite a few position players in camp already – in fact, most of them are. Without question, the one drawing the greatest amount of attention – especially among the Dodgers’ training and conditioning staff and the front office – is utility infielder Justin Turner. The reason, of course, is because JT has been one of the most consistent hitters in all of baseball since he joined the Dodgers in 2014.
In his two seasons with the Dodgers, Turner has a slash-line of .314 / .384 / .492 for an outstanding OPS of .876. He has hit a total of 23 home runs, including 16 last season, all of this in a grand total of 761 plate appearances over two seasons.
As most Dodger fans know, Turner suffered an injury to his left knee last last season that required off-season microfracture surgery. And though Turner’s teammates Yasmani Grandal and Kiké Hernandez also had minor off-season (shoulder) surgeries, Turner’s was by far the most serious and initially had the Dodgers believing that he may not make the Opening Day roster – this as recently as the Dodgers’ Fan Fest event on January 30.
Turner arrived at Camelback Ranch for early workouts almost two weeks before position players are due to report. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
But for anyone who knows Justin Turner and knows how dedicated and committed to the team he is, it should come as a surprise to no one that the 31-year-old Long Beach, California native now appears to be on track to join Grandal and Hernandez in the starting lineup when the Dodgers open their 2016 season on April 4.
“The guys that we had that had surgery at the end of the year, I think we’ve all been incredibly impressed – not surprised but impressed – by the way that they have attacked the rehab process,” said Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman while addressing the media on Friday morning. “[They] did everything they could to put themselves in a position that they are right now, and then now taking these six weeks to kind of build them up appropriately and then I expect them to be done.”
As for Turner now being ready on Opening Day, any doubts that Friedman and Dodgers new manager Dave Roberts had less than a moth ago are now gone.
“That’s our expectation,” Friedman said. “Here again, we’re going to play it out and monitor work load and figure it out, but that’s fair to say.”
New Dodgers manager Dave Roberts echoed his boss regarding JT.
“That’s fair,” Roberts said. “I think that you look at what he did and how he performed even with the injury last year, the clarity that you have if you’re healthy and you feel strong which we get from him or Yasmani, or McCarthy with where he’s at right now in his progression. That’s exciting for us.”
Although Turner still has a lot of work to do between now and Opening Day and setbacks can happen, you’ve got to feel real good about him being at the hot corner when the bell rings only 43 days from today.
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That’s certainly good news so far. The Dodgers need his bat in the lineup everyday. I would love to see the kind of numbers he could put up if he got between 500 to 600 AB.
Up to this point, the Dodgers (especially Mattingly) have always been very protective of JT, giving him a day off every three or four days. Mattingly said that he did this because of his concerns over Turner’s right knee. But last season, Turner said that his right knee was fine after a prolonged injury from his Mets day, adding that it was his left knee that was giving him problems after fouling a ball off of it on June 8.
Although Turner says that the MRI he took just before the playoffs showed nothing and the one he had immediately after the playoffs revealed the microfracture, I suspect that JT played the entire second half of the season with the microfracture.
He is one tough hombre, that for sure.
I hope this is right about Turner, I’m looking forward to seeing him as the Dodgers’ starting third baseman, throughout the season.
If Utley is hitting early, I expect to see him in there giving Turner time off. I don’t look for more than 450 at bats for Justin. In fact, I’ll take the under on that figure and hope I’m wrong.
I hope you’re wrong too and I won’t rub it in (only because I won’t remember who said it).
If his knees are both working he should be out there everyday. He doesn’t seem to care if it’s LHP or RHP, so no need to platoon.
I am inclined to go along with Badger. I might take the over. Turner did not start out as the everyday 3B. But he had a tremendous May, June, and July before slumping badly in August (9 hits all month). He recovered to put up okay numbers in September, and had a great NLDS.
I do not think it matters LHP or RHP as he had reverse splits last year, so it might be that he should get a day off when they face a particular pitcher that he has had a tough time with. Utley or Kike’ can sub for him.
I think Turner is better when he can go all out, which means he needs a day off every so often. Somewhere between 120 and 130 games. He played 126 games with 385 AB in 2015. He had the skin rash last year, so who knows what pops up this year. This is a contract year for Justin, as next year is his first FA shot.
“skin rash” is a huge understatement — MRSA is a serious infection
I know it was serious. It was not meant as a putdown.