SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A Minor League Baseball player can spend his whole career hoping to get the call to play for the big club. And for the few, when that call does come, the next step can be a whirlwind.
"I remember being pretty calm for the most part, I wasn't very nervous, but I couldn't really control my body," Trea Turner said of his first start in for the Washington Nationals.
It was a moment Trea Turner had been working toward his whole life. At 22 years old, the rookie got his first shot as a Major League Baseball player.
"I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what to expect," said Turner. "I didn't know how I'd be treated up there, what my role was. You have to adjust really fast, every time you get moved up whether it's AA, AAA or the big leagues."
Turner is no stranger to making that adjustment. He earned that first trip to the majors in just his second season playing minor league ball.
"He did an outstanding job for us at shortstop, played a little second base, even exposed him to centerfield just to increase his versatility for down the road," said Syracuse Chiefs Manager Billy Gardner.
Now, in his third season with the Chiefs, he's already made two more trips to Washington.
"I felt a lot more comfortable this year, getting moved up because I knew the guys this time," said Turner. "I went through spring training, last year I didn't go through spring training with them so I felt more comfortable with the coaches, the staff and teammates around me."
And he's only getting more comfortable, Turner has become a staple in the Nationals line up. So for now, it might be some time before Chiefs fans can catch him from their seats here at NBT Bank Stadium.
"You've got to grow up fast, you've got to learn quickly," said Turner. "If you get caught up in failure, say you go 0-10 you get caught up in that and it can just drag on because you play every day. It's hard, you have to learn how to balance success and failure."
But it's a balancing act Turner will gladly perform.