Former NC State Shortstop Trea Turner made his first career Major League start on Friday night for the Washington Nationals. It wasn’t a dream of an offensive debut, going 0-3 at the plate, but he did manage to show his uncanny range and speed on defense.
It is rather odd that Turner got his first career start at Second Base. Turner came up to the Majors ranked as the #5 Shortstop prospect in baseball. With that being said, it’s somewhat par for the course for Turner. As a Freshman at NC State he played 3rd Base, before moving over to Shortstop.
Turner grew up a Marlins fan, so it was rather surreal to have his first start come against his childhood team. Even though Turner has started his major league career 0-8 at the plate, he’s not overly concerned.
“I felt good tonight,” Turner said. “Some tough at-bats. Got a lot of guys throwing 95 [mph], even the starter. You just have to battle. I hit with two strikes, I think twice. I put some barrel on the ball just under a few of them, but that’s how baseball goes. You can hit the ball hard four times right at people and go 0-for-4. You can hit it soft four times and go 4-for-4. It’s not always the box score, it doesn’t always tell everything, and that’s kind of how I feel. But I feel good out there. Not worried about the 0-for-3.” (MLB)
The last former NC State position player to start a game in the Majors was Shortstop Jonathan Diaz back on May 1st for the Blue Jays.
