After Trea Turner fielded the first grounder of the game Monday, Bryson Stott came over and gave the Phillies shortstop’s glove a tap.
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Or rather, Stott tapped his own glove. It just happened to be on Turner’s wrist, because he was borrowing it.
The glove, a custom black model with red lacing, is from Rawlings’ Pro Preferred line. It’s also embroidered with Stott’s last name and his No. 5 on it in red. Turner has used it for the past few weeks while fielding grounders pregame, but Monday was the first time he tried it out in a game.
It was tested right away. On the first pitch of the game, Marlins outfielder Estury Ruiz hit a grounder to the hole between short and third. Turner was playing deep enough to cut it off, jump, and make the throw back to first while in midair.
“It kind of gave me a little bit [of a] different feeling [on] ground balls,” Turner said. “It’s a lot different than what I have. It’s a lot longer.”
While it looks just like the glove Stott was using a few feet away at third, the one Turner borrowed was an extra, brand-new glove that he then broke in himself. (“I wouldn’t let him touch mine,” Stott said. “I wouldn’t let anyone touch mine.”)
Stott has been using the same Rawlings model for a while. At the beginning of each season, he receives several Rawlings models.
“I break one in and fall in love with that one,” Stott said, “and then I have three or four extra.”
Turner was looking for a change after his defensive struggles had reached a fever pitch this season. He made four errors in four games after the All-Star break, along with other miscues that weren’t scored as errors but were mistakes, regardless.
So he asked Stott to borrow one of his extras.
“Just having this on my hand feels like a little different,” Turner said. “I feel like I make a little bit [of] different decisions.”
Stott’s gloves are a 12-inch model, which is on the larger side for an infielder — excluding first base, of course. He kept the same one when he made the position switch from second to third base to open a spot for Luis Arraez.
Turner said his old glove was also 12 inches, but other differences in the glove’s design causes Stott’s to feel longer.
“It kind of helped me make some plays that I don’t think I was doing perfectly,” Turner said. “To me, I was thinking about the other day. It’s kind of like using a different bat, whether it’s lighter, heavier, you know, longer, whatever. It’s the same swing, it’s the same player, but sometimes you just get a different feel of it.”
Ruiz’s groundout to open Monday’s game had an expected batting average of .260. It’s a play that earlier in the season Turner wasn’t making on a consistent basis.
Turner’s struggles this season are well-documented. He has posted minus-6 outs above average and minus-11 defensive runs saved at shortstop this season. His 18 errors this year have already surpassed his full-season total of 17 from 2025.
But Turner also hasn’t made an error since July 27. In August so far, he has recorded plus+3 OAA. He’s been working on not setting up to early on ground balls hit to him, which he identified as an issue leading to his misplays. And even if Turner has only used Stott’s glove in one game so far, he also thinks that’s helping, too.
The only drawback Turner has found in the borrowed glove is the bigger size made it initially harder to make the transfer from glove to hand. But he didn’t have any problems with that on Monday, and he thinks he’ll stick with it going forward.
“It’s funny. It’s like sometimes when I think I’m gonna transfer well, I transfer bad, and sometimes when I think I’m gonna transfer it bad, I transfer it well, and I think it’s just kind of getting used to the glove, and the shape, and stuff like that,” Turner said. “But as far as just like playing shortstop and regular ground balls, it feels good.”
Extra bases
Aaron Nola (4-9, 5.33 ERA) is scheduled to start Wednesday’s series final opposite Miami right-hander Sandy Alcantara (13-7, 3.43).
Tony Gwynn Jr. is a former major league outfielder and son of late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. Over the last two years, he got to know new Phillies second baseman Luis Arraez, whose contact skills at the plate often draw comparisons to Gwynn. Tony Jr. joined Phillies Extra to discuss his father, Arraez, and the bonds that connect them. Watch here.
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