Brice Turang Is the Superstar Nobody Talks About
Milwaukee's second baseman has an all-around game that ranks among the best in the league but isn't often talked about like that's the case.
What if I told you that a team had a player who has had a slash line of .276/.362/.436 over the last two seasons and has averaged 31 doubles, 18.5 homers, 87 RBIs, 97 runs scored, and a 125 wRC+ per year?
And what if I told you that player is not only leading all players at his position with a 5.5 fWAR, but also has a combined 10 fWAR over the last two seasons that is ninth-best in all of MLB?
And, what if I told you that two years ago, this player won both the Gold Glove as the best player at his position as well as the Platinum Glove as the top defensive player in his league?
Well I bet odds are that you’d think this player was probably one of the bigger stars in the league. While he’s been starting to get more appreciation around baseball, he arguably still not in as many conversations about baseball’s best players as he should be.
If you hadn’t guessed already, the player referenced above is Brice Turang. He is the 26-year-old second baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers, who own the best record in all of baseball, and has been one of the top players on the squad for two years now.
Turang, selected 21st overall in the 2018 draft, was drafted as a middle infielder with elite defense and a strong hit tool. After debuting in 2023, it didn’t take long to show off his prowess on the dirt, earning that Platinum Glove award the very next season.
Turang has continued to get better and better since then and now ranks among the best in baseball in a number of offensive and defensive stats. So, why aren’t enough people talking about him?
Brice Turang: Underrated Superstar
Now, there was a good amount of talk surrounding Turang back in the middle of the summer. Unfortunately, it was all about him not getting the credit he deserved at the time.
To many, it felt like Turang would be a shoo-in to earn the first All-Star Game nod of his career. His 23 doubles, 54 walks, 124 wRC+, and 3.6 fWAR tied for the lead or flat out led all primary MLB second basemen in the first half of the season.
And yet, perhaps due to a small cold streak around voting time, Turang was left off the NL All-Star Game roster altogether. Ozzie Albies of the Atlanta Braves and Luis Arraez of the San Francisco Giants where the NL representatives at the position instead.
All Turang has done since then is continue to work toward being the best second basemen in all of MLB. Based on the numbers, it gets hard to argue otherwise.
With just a handful games remaining in the season, Turang is slashing .265/.365/.444 with a 126 wRC+. His wRC+ continues to lead all MLB second basemen, as do his 34 doubles, 94 RBI, and 5.5 fWAR.
Turang also hit his 20th home run on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Phillies, to go along with his 19 steals. One more stolen base will put him into the 20-20 club for the first time in his career and he would tie for the fifth-youngest player to do so while playing over half of their games at second base, per Stathead.
The speed was never a question with Turang as he had exactly 100 steals in his 434-game minor league career. He only had 26 homers during that span, though, and few back then expected him to develop into a power threat. That shows just how much he’s developed.
The trademark Turang defense has definitely been there as well. His whopping 22 Defensive Runs Saved are not only tops among all qualified MLB second basemen, they are the second most of any player in baseball behind just right fielder Wilyer Abreu of the Red Sox, a fellow former Gold Glover.
With that resume on the season, it’s still hard to imagine why Turang doesn’t get talked about more. Sometimes with players like that, it’s because they’re playing in obscurity on a bad team, but that’s certainly not his case.
Turang plays for the Brewers, who are a perennial playoff team and just notched their franchise-best 99th win on Wednesday. They’ve had players over the years like Ryan Braun, Christian Yelich, Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes, William Contreras, and more get plenty of national recognition, and deservedly so.
And for what it’s worth, Turang seems to get love from his peers. He got plenty from WBC Team USA teammate and Yankees superstar Aaron Judge according to an X post from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writer Curt Hogg earlier this year.
But ask many others to name superstars in the game and Turang’s name often won’t be found. Luckily, he has plenty of years left to change that. Perhaps a big postseason showing and a deep run for Milwaukee could even accelerate it, but even if it doesn’t, he’ll just keep going out and being the superstar he already is.
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Written by
Matt Carroll is a writer for Just Baseball and former site expert at Reviewing the Brew. He studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and currently…