Last week, MLB Network continued its countdown of the top ten players in the league at each position, this time ranking the shortstops. Trea Turner appeared on the list for the third straight season, except this time he barely made the cut.

Turner clocked in at tenth heading into the 2025 season, after being fifth prior to 2024 and first prior to 2023. To be sure, there’s flaws with this list, as there are with any list designed to spark discussion on the internet, but the list itself is not what we’re here to discuss.

There’s no real argument against the fact that so far through two seasons, Turner has not quite lived up to the expectations that were set when he signed an 11 year, $300M contract in December of 2022. He was expected to come in and be an MVP caliber player on the level of Bryce Harper, and that simply has not happened.

But the discussion around Turner always seems to revolve around the idea that he’s been a disappointment in general. He hasn’t been an MVP caliber player, but he’s still been a very good player on the whole. The disparagement sometimes goes so far as to paint the picture that Turner is actually being underrated by some fans.

In 276 games with the Phillies across two seasons, Turner has slashed .279/.328/.463 with 47 home runs, 138 RBIs, 49 steals, and a 116 OPS+. Turner’s AVG ranks fourth while his OPS ranks sixth among all other shortstops during that span. Among all shortstops to play in 250 games since 2023, Turner’s 6.4 bWAR is seventh best and his 8.2 fWAR is tied for sixth best.

The biggest knock against Turner since arriving in Philadelphia is his rapidly declining defense. It’s not hard to understand why this tends to dominate the discussion about his failing to live up to expectations. Turner was average at best at short in his career prior, but as a Phillie he’s been downright brutal. His 40 errors are the second most at SS since 2023 and his -26 DRS are by far the worst with the next closest being Willy Adames at -8. Other metrics don’t help him either, as his -8 OAA and -4.2 UZR are second and fourth worst respectively. All of this goes to say that Turner has been one of if not the worst defensive shortstop in baseball since becoming a Phillie.

Again, Turner was signed with the belief that he would be a top 10 player in baseball, not just a top ten player at his position. He’s fallen well short of the former but is right in the thick of the latter. Ideally, Turner either finds another gear offensively and sustains it or he somehow finds a way to become an average defender again to be able to enter those MVP discussions.

It’s impossible to ignore his faults, such as his defense and overall decline in contact, but they’ve dominated the discussion so much that Turner’s successes are being overshadowed. He hasn’t hit to his capability, but he’s still been a productive hitter on the whole. But of course, he hasn’t been quite productive enough to outhit his incredibly poor defense which brings down his overall value and casts an ominous shadow over the rest of his contract.

Calling a player “overrated” or “underrated” is a game of semantics. Everyone has a different opinion of a player and their relation to other players. Determining who is rated too high or too low is an extremely subjective process. There are legitimate arguments for Trea Turner being overrated, as he has not hit to his previous capability and has been a liability on defense. There’s also almost as many reasons for why those arguments have diminished his image as a player to the point’s he’s actually underrated. Turner offensively has been a top 6-ish player at his position despite not playing to his previous standards. Defensively, he’s been arguably the worst. He hasn’t been an MVP candidate, but he has rightfully started an All-Star Game and played at MVP levels for extended periods of time if not for full seasons.

So, is Trea Turner overrated because he hasn’t been an MVP candidate, or underrated because he’s still been a top player at his position?