Trea Turner is a true five-tool player, maybe even six tools if you factor the ability to give a live interview while playing in the MLB All-Star Game.
The Philadelphia Phillies shortstop was mic’d up during the second inning of Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game at Globe Live Field in Arlington, Texas, along with his teammates Alec Bohm and Bryce Harper.
With one out and a runner on first for the American League All-Stars, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a sharp grounder up the middle that had base-hit potential. Turner, however, reacted swiftly, diving to his left to grab the baseball, throwing it to second from his stomach to get the out. But the most impressive part of the play was that Turner did it all while chatting with the Fox broadcast team of Joe Davis and John Smoltz.
Trea Turner makes a diving play while mic’d up with Fox during the MLB All-Star Game. ⚾️📺pic.twitter.com/8A9XddcAZ8
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 17, 2024
The play drew praise from Turner’s mic’d up teammates with Harper yelling, “Let’s go! Are you kidding me?” And it drew even higher praise from Smoltz who dubbed it “The greatest play of a player who has worn the mic.”
The diving grab was especially notable because usually when plays from mic’d up players get attention, it’s because of a gaffe. Last month, Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña botched a pop-up and Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Kiké Hernández committed an error while mic’d up. Both gaffes occurred during interviews with the MLB broadcast crew on Apple TV+.
Between mic’d up players suffering on-field blunders and WNBA coaches enduring awkward in-game interviews, there have been some questions about whether it’s necessary to give fans and viewers this type of up-close access. But after Turner’s diving play while chatting with Davis and Smoltz, it should quiet some of those questions, at least until the next error.
[Fox]
