MESA, Ariz. — Cubs corner infielder Justin Turner suspects he’s caught some of his new teammates off guard.
The veteran hitter will sit in the batting cage and just observe and talk, turning down one teammate after another when they ask if he wants to jump in for a round.
“Sometimes it’s better to not take 1,000 swings and watch other guys take their swings,” Turner said in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “And you might pick up some cues or some thoughts or some feels that might apply to you.”
The Cubs brought in Turner, 40, for his hitting ability. Since he remade his swing going into the 2014 season, getting ahead of the launch angle craze, Turner’s approach had proven to be practically age-proof. And minutes into any baseball conversation with him, it’s clear just how much time he’s spent thinking about hitting philosophy.
“Identifying the problem in hitting is very easy,” Turner said. “Identifying the fix to the problem is the hard part. And a lot of times there can be 20 different ways to address the same problem, but it’s figuring out which way is going to stick for that day.”
That mentality is a good fit for a group of hitters that embraces frequent communication. And Turner is already influencing younger players like top prospect Matt Shaw.
“He’s really gone out of his way to have conversations with me, whether it’s defensive, offensive approach, all that stuff,” Shaw said. “And he’s kind of always around to chat and ask questions. He’s been really available in that sense. So for me, it’s been awesome. It’s been a dream come true to have him.”
Turner also had a head start on developing a rapport with hitting coach Dustin Kelly. The pair overlapped in the Dodgers organization when Kelly was a minor-league hitting coach and then coordinator.
Once Turner had talked with manager Craig Counsell, Kelly was Turner’s next call on the coaching staff after signing.
“I reached out to him right away, just to start having the conversations of the kind of language that I use when I’m talking about hitting, and to get familiar with the way he sees things and goes about it,” Turner said. “… So far, it’s been great. It’s been super open, just trying to learn each other, trying to figure out each other’s cues. And I’m looking forward to working with him all year.”
In their early communication, Turner asked about how the team approached game planning, video setup and cage flow, Kelly said.
“He’s a cage rat,” Kelly said. “Loves being in the cage, loves being around hitters. … He’s got an incredible perspective of what he was as an early major-leaguer, and the swing transformation. And then so much of what he’s done these last couple years has just been a really productive right-handed hitter at an older age — which, you don’t see a ton of those guys anymore.”
Why has Turner been the exception? Kelly pointed to his mechanics but also his baseball mind, situational hitting, and an ability to “throttle down” when appropriate.
Turner’s swing is unique. He sets up in a narrow stance and then goes into a big leg kick.
“For me, it was about finding a way that I can constantly get into a good hitting position every single time I do it, and I could repeat it over and over and over again,” said Turner, who has used a leg kick his whole career. “Because I believe that if you can get into a good position on time, your swing is going to work all the time.”
Some hitters will take the polar opposite approach when seeking repeatability, even going so far as to completely eliminate the stride.
“If you’re going to take the hardest thing to do in all of sports and remove all the athleticism out of trying to accomplish that, that seems like it’s counterproductive to me,” Turner said. “So I feel like moving and flowing is more athletic than being static and spread out. And that’s why I believe in my leg kick and the forward move and being athletic and letting my athleticism help me with pitch recognition, adjustability and bat-to-ball.”
He would never, however, tell a fellow hitter who’d found success with the more static approach not to use it. Like he said, there can be 20 different ways to address the same problem.
“One of the hardest parts about today’s game is everyone is trying to quantify, everyone’s trying to figure it out from a numbers standpoint,” Turner said. “But there’s so many variables in hitting that you can’t ever solve the problem. There’s no equation. There’s no absolutes in hitting.”
So, Turner hangs out in the batting cages even when he isn’t hitting, watches his teammates and talks through what they’re thinking and feeling in the batter’s box.
“Hitting is just fascinating to me,” he said. “I love it. Every day I learn something new, or I see something that I want to try. And if I wasn’t around the cage all the time, I wouldn’t be getting all that information.”
