Turner breaks club record with 42nd stolen base of season

ATLANTA - From the moment he made his debut with the Nationals in 2015, Trea Turner seemed destined to one day set the club record for stolen bases in a single season. All the lightning-fast infielder needed were enough time and enough at-bats to break Alfonso Soriano's record 41 steals in 2006.

Turns out Turner didn't even need that much time or that many at-bats to do it.

On Tuesday night, in only his 88th game of the season, Turner matched and then surpassed Soriano's mark. He stole 42 bases in slightly more than half a season, doing it in 71 fewer games than Soriano needed more than a decade ago.

What does that tell you about his running abilities?

"That tells me that I'd like to see him all year," manager Dusty Baker said. "He'd probably steal 70 or 80."

We won't find that out this season, not after Turner was forced to spend two months on the disabled list with a fractured right wrist. But what we've seen from him has been more than enough to convince whatever skeptics there may still be out there.

"I'm glad I could be back on the field," said Turner, who returned from the DL on Aug. 29. "Cause it was a long time that I missed. I think for anybody, just being on the field is the most fun. That's what I'm taking away from it, just being able to be back on the field with my teammates."

Turner's stolen bases haven't been meaningless. No. 41 came after he led off the seventh inning Tuesday night with a double, then swiped third base without drawing a throw. That put him in position to score a key insurance run moments later.

"I think that's what I bring to this team: trying to get into scoring position without a hit or a walk or something done by the guy behind me," he said. "So when they do something, I can score."

Turner has been putting himself in position to score a lot in recent weeks. In the 20 games he has played since coming off the DL, he has a .372 on-base percentage. That, plus his seven steals and 12 extra-base hits, have allowed him to score 16 runs.

It's Turner's ability to affect a game in multiple ways that most impresses his teammates.

"I think I've said this before, and I don't mean it in a bad way: Usually people who are as fast as he is - this is going to sound mean - but they aren't the best baseball players," first baseman Ryan Zimmerman said. "Trea is a baseball player that just happens to be that fast. His baseball IQ and his adjustments are crazy. He works hard. He and (first base coach Davey Lopes) work at it hard. The speed is just kind of another thing he has going for him. He's more of a baseball player that just happens to be crazy fast."