Don Mattingly moved Kyle Schwarber to the leadoff spot and dropped Trea Turner to second in the order on Tuesday night at Petco Park, a straight-forward lineup shake meant to jolt a sputtering offense.
Trea Turner — last year’s National League batting champion — is the player the Phillies are trying to rescue from a prolonged slump. Mattingly said the change was intended to give Turner “a little different feel” and to create more chances for him to swing the bat earlier and more often.
The numbers explain the urgency. The Phillies entered Tuesday at 27-27, carrying a.681 team OPS that ranked 26th in the majors and scoring 4.00 runs per game, 22nd in baseball. Turner had hit just.221 with a.608 OPS across his first 53 games this season, a sharp decline from the.304 average and.812 OPS that earned him the batting title in 2025.
Mattingly was explicit about the goal: “I’d like to get Trea going and really hopefully just give a little different feel to where he’s at.” He said the club had discussed the possibility — “We’ve kind of talked through this” — and that the move was a deliberate attempt to change Turner’s rhythm at the plate. “We’re just looking for a little different feel for him,” Mattingly added.
The manager framed the shift as pragmatic, pointing to examples around the game where unconventional top-of-the-order choices helped create momentum. “I think the Braves did it a couple years ago with (Jorge) Soler in the World Series run,” Mattingly said, later noting, “You see it with the Dodgers and (Shohei) Ohtani, so it’s not a bad thing.” He emphasized the practical upside: “And it comes up first, right? So as you get to that ninth, if it’s in a one-run game, that spot’s probably coming, and you’d rather have him swinging than hitting fourth, traditional fourth, and not see the plate.”
The move reshuffled other pieces. Schwarber, in his 395th regular-season game since signing with Philadelphia, entered the night as the big-league leader in home runs and had been the primary leadoff option before Turner took that role last season. Brandon Marsh was slotted to hit cleanup and move over to right field, with Edmundo Sosa penciled in at ninth and in left. Mattingly also gave right fielder Adolis García a day off; García was batting.200 with a.598 OPS.
The tweak follows a modest offensive outburst Monday: the Phillies beat the Padres 3-0 on three hits, including a Schwarber solo homer and single and a two-run blast from Marsh. But the victory papered over broader issues. Only Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Marsh were carrying the lineup above league-average production by OPS+ (163, 141 and 126 OPS+, respectively), a thin group to lean on if Turner doesn’t recover.
The tension is simple and immediate. Mattingly has framed the change as a short-term nudge — “Trea’s gonna get it together,” he said — and he says he will monitor the results before undoing the swap. That restraint acknowledges both the move’s limited upside if Turner continues to swing poorly and the reality that the Phillies’ underlying offensive metrics are weak enough that more than lineup surgery may be required.
This is a pragmatic gamble: put a proven power hitter atop the order to create immediate scoring chances and let Turner bat with more frequency and less pressure. If Turner responds, the shift will have bought the Phillies breathing room without sacrificing power in the heart of the order. If he doesn’t, Mattingly will face a harder choice — and the team’s.681 OPS and 4.00 runs per game suggest further changes are likely.
For fans checking the phillies score and following the late-season arc in San Diego, the new lineup is the first clear sign that the Phillies will tinker openly to reverse a middling start. Mattingly summed up the intent plainly: “So I like the fact he’s going to come up again.” Whether that added opportunity turns into renewed production will determine if this is a one-night adjustment or the start of a broader shakeup.
