{"id":576883,"date":"2026-02-17T05:10:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T05:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/576883\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T05:10:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T05:10:22","slug":"phillies-trea-turner-claims-phone-never-rang-about-wbc-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/576883\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillies&#8217; Trea Turner claims &#8216;phone never rang&#8217; about WBC chance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Phillies shortstop Trea Turner wanted to run it back with Team USA at the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n<p>He had a convincing case, too, after tying the tournament record and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/03\/19\/trea-turner-fuels-team-usa-to-world-baseball-classic-final\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">leading his country with five homers back in the 2023 iteration of the event<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n<p>But when Team USA announced its roster ahead of this year\u2019s tournament in March, Turner was left off it and he revealed Monday that it wasn\u2019t because he turned down an opportunity to play.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s something I wanted to do, but the phone never rang,\u201d Turner told reporters from his locker at the Phillies\u2019 spring training complex. \u201cIt\u2019s so much fun. I gladly would have done it again. I said it last time, if they ever ask, I would say yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Team USA manager Mark DeRosa and general manager Michael Hill selected the Royals\u2019 Bobby Witt Jr. and the Orioles\u2019 Gunnar Henderson over the 32-year-old Turner as Team USA shortstops \u2014 giving the infield a different complexion as they look to win the tournament after falling to Japan in the 2023 championship game.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38513029\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/philadelphia-phillies-trea-turner-reacts-121485785.jpg\" alt=\"Trea Turner of the Philadelphia Phillies in a red Phillies hoodie and hat holding a baseball glove.\" class=\"wp-image-38513029\"  \/>Trea Turner is pictured during the Phillies\u2019 spring training session Feb. 16. AP<\/p>\n<p>Led by captain and Yankees superstar Aaron Judge, Team USA\u2019s star-studded roster also includes two of Turner\u2019s Phillies teammates in Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve got a great roster this year,\u201d Turner told reporters Monday. \u201cIt\u2019s stacked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38513035\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/8-reacts-hitting-grand-slam-8479950.jpg\" alt=\"USA shortstop Trea Turner reacting after hitting a grand slam.\" class=\"wp-image-38513035\"  \/>Trea Turner celebrates after hitting a grand slam during a March 2023 game in the World Baseball Classic. USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Turner will remain with the Phillies for the entirety of their Grapefruit League slate and spring training.<\/p>\n<p>The next chance for Turner, whose vintage WBC moments in 2023 <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/03\/18\/trea-turners-grand-slam-leads-us-to-comeback-win-in-wbc\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">included a go-ahead grand slam against Venezuela<\/a> in the quarterfinals, to play for Team USA will be in 2029, when the tournament unfolds next.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019re in a good spot to win,\u201d Turner told reporters of Team USA, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/phillies\/trea-turner-missing-world-baseball-classic-spring-training-20260216.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to the Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ll definitely be watching it, and I wish Kyle and Bryce and all these guys, [Edmundo] Sosa, everyone playing, I hope they perform well for their countries, and it\u2019s a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turner won the National League batting title last season after collecting a .304 average \u2014 in addition to 15 homers and 69 RBIs \u2014 in what served as his best season since signing with the Phillies ahead of the 2023 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phillies shortstop Trea Turner wanted to run it back with Team USA at the World Baseball Classic. He&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40,185,1713,4820],"class_list":{"0":"post-576883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-trea-turner","16":"tag-world-baseball-classic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116084253877783098","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}