Trea Turner the difference maker Nats have been searching for

In any professional sports matchup, to separate two evenly matched teams you need a difference maker, an elite talent that is a cut above or brings something to the table the other team can't match.

In football, it's a tall wide receiver or a pass rusher that is too fast for a quarterback.

In baseball, it can be a guy who has the bat, the speed and the glove that can change a game.

Early in 2016, the Nationals were not finding that in their leadoff spot until they converted their would be shortstop of the future to center field.

Trea Turner was asked to make that switch while he was at Triple-A Syracuse. The Nationals assistant general manager & vice president, player personnel Doug Harris talked to Turner first about getting some reps in center field.

"Doug Harris I think was the first person I talked to about it," Turner said. "I talked to Billy Gardner, my manager at Triple-A at the same time, those two brought it up to me.

"I just thought of it as an opportunity. Opportunity to get up here and try and stay up here, and I wanted to take advantage of it."

Turner had been up in the big leagues for a bit in 2015. This time, he arrived for a weekend series in Cincinnati June 3-5. A month later, July 10 at New York, he was back again. Since then, he has been that player opponents have had to gameplan for in an attempt to slow down the Nats.

Turner got better each month since his arrival. In July, he hit .281. In August, he hit .357. In September, he hit .330 with five doubles, two triples, seven homers, had 13 stolen bases and 16 RBIs. His on-base percentage has been .370.

"I think runners on base in general are good," Turner said. "It forces the pitcher to do stuff that he's not necessarily comfortable with, especially if guys have speed. So if I can get on, or anybody can get on, I think that's great because that forces them to throw out of the stretch. Maybe throw more fastballs if somebody is going to steal. Give us a chance to bunt or hit and run. That puts a lot of pressure on them."

He was so good in September, in fact, that Major League Baseball recognized him as the Rookie of the Month for the second straight month.

"Trea's been great," said right fielder Bryce Harper. "Being able to hit the ball long. And hit the ball on the ground and get to second base. And walks, they turn into doubles and triples. He's been unbelievable for us.

"Being able to have your guy at the top of our lineup who gets the job done every single day and loves to play the game of baseball. It's a lot of fun to watch. So he's going to help us out tremendously the next couple of weeks."

But is the postseason going to be different? Will there be an adjustment for Turner? Ryan Zimmerman, who played that up-and-coming star for the Nats, says the N.C. State product won't need to make any big changes.

"Once you play in the big leagues, you've played in the big games," Zimmerman said. "You've played in front of however many people will be here on Friday. Once you've been up here and played here, I don't think anything really affects many guys up here, especially guys like him."

Manager Dusty Baker said he won't treat Turner any differently just because he's one of the newcomers to postseason baseball.

"I'll talk to Trea as if he's one of the team," Baker said. "And I'll probably have a brief meeting and that's about it. What can you say to prepare a guy? You can say all you want, but until he's out there, you really don't know. I don't think it's hit Trea or any of the young players yet, (Wilmer) Difo, (Pedro) Severino, because right now all we're doing is practicing for the big games. So it's hard to prepare somebody for what's coming.

"I can tell them all kinds of stuff, but until they experience it themselves, until they're standing on that line out there during introductions and first pitch and stuff, only then will they really know. Some guys respond well under that. There are other guys that don't. There are some kids that respond better under the pressure than some veterans."

If these past three months of proving he belongs are any indication, Turner will be the difference maker in the postseason the Nats have been searching for at the top of their lineup.