Justin Turner reaches 10 years of major league service time

Justin Turner on Sunday reached 10 years of major league service time. Turner’s wife, Kourtney, tweeted out a celebration of the milestone.

In addition to locking in a full major league pension, 10 years of service time is also incredibly rare. In a story on outfielder Jon Jay, who reached the 10-year mark earlier this season, Pedro Gomez at ESPN noted that only roughly six percent of all players in major league history (19,861 have played in the majors, entering Sunday) reached the 10-year milestone.

When Turner signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in 2014, he was 29 years old with 318 major league games under his belt in parts of five seasons with Baltimore and New York. Since then he’s been a key cog in six consecutive division winners, closing in on a seventh.

“It’s crazy to think about, where I was, the road I’ve taken to get here, to be coming up on 10 years is pretty cool to think about,” Turner said on a conference call Thursday.

In addition to Turner, Kenley Jansen reached 10 years of service time earlier this season. The Dodgers held separate clubhouse celebrations for each of them.

“It’s a special occasion for both of them,” manager Dave Roberts said Sunday on a conference call. “The consistency, the longevity, the performance. Those guys do a great job of enjoying each day, and I’m very, very proud of those guys.”