The phone call came while Turner Ward was at breakfast in Los Angeles, about to head to the ballpark as the Dodgers’ first-year hitting coach. The previous summer, in 2015, he had the same position with Arizona, climbing the ranks in the Diamondbacks’ system alongside one of his best pupils, Paul Goldschmidt. That’s who was on the phone, out of the blue.
Delivered to his home later was a letter from Goldschmidt and a treasure, one that was a few rooms away Thursday as Ward described the call. Every day he’s home, Ward passes by the tall, shiny Silver Slugger Award trophy that Goldschmidt gave him after winning it in 2015.