Justin Turner's leadership paying dividends on and off the field
Justin Turner signed with the Red Sox back in early January to fill the void in the lineup left by J.D. Martinez. After two months of wearing a Red Sox uniform, Turner said his experience in Boston has been “even better” than he expected.
The main reason why? The passionate Red Sox fanbase.
“I think the atmosphere here every single day, whether it’s a rainy Tuesday or a Saturday night, the fans are here, the fans are loud,” Turner said to reporters after Game 1 of the doubleheader. “One thing that I’ve talked about to a few people that I’ve noticed is there’s no prompts on the scoreboard here to tell the fans when to cheer, to tell them when to get on their feet, to tell them when to make noise. You see that every other place you go. But you don’t see that here. Our fans do a really good job of knowing when to get on their feet, knowing when to make noise, knowing when to be engaged. Players feed off that, so that’s incredible.”
Turner has made an impact in the Sox lineup batting .265 with 56 hits, 11 doubles, six homers, 25 RBIs owns a .752 OPS in 241 plate appearances. While Turner provides protection in the middle of the batting order, it’s his work off the field in the Sox’ clubhouse that has paid off dividends.
When the Sox held their press conference to announce the contract extension for Rob Refsnyder, Turner was in the room with the media.
“Our clubhouse has been a pretty good clubhouse because of him,” said Refsnyder.
Refsnyder said he confided in Turner before signing his extension and looked to the veteran leader on advice to handle the situation.
“Justin is here, I think I talked to him a week or so ago on the road. He was the only player I was talking too about this extension and things like that. He gave me some advice. Our clubhouse has been a completely different clubhouse with Justin and it’s cool just to have him here to support me,” said Refsnyder to the media.
Turner didn’t speak during the press conference, he just sat in the back row listening to his teammate and watching him take in the moment.
The 38-year-old did his talking during Game 1 of the doubleheader. He gave the Sox the lead with a bases clearing wall-ball double off the Green Monster in the sixth inning. The wind was an issue all game and likely kept it from going out and being a grand slam, nonetheless it gave the Sox a 5-4 lead.
“He’s a good player,” manager Alex Cora said. “He’s a good influence on the kids. We fell behind today, and the way we did, it wasn’t a good taste, but he kept going in the dugout and kept pushing them. I think he helped us out today, obviously.
“He understands the game... He gets it,” Cora added. “He’s always talking about it. When you have your leader talking about it in the meeting, and then he goes out there and performs, it’s always good. It’s easier for the message to get across.”
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