At the end of Spring Training, the Phillies left Odubel Herrera in Clearwater. Herrera was not among those who made the Opening Day 25-man roster. With 40-man roster spots at a premium, and with as many as four other options with upside in center field already on the roster, the Phillies saw no need to go to Herrera. Then, all of those four options failed to give the Phillies a reliable center field presence at bat.
The Phillies added Odubel Herrera to both the 40-man and 25-man rosters on Monday afternoon.
Let us recap why it came to this:
- Adam Haseley left the team for personal reasons
- Roman Quinn has as many hits as starter Zack Wheeler
- Scott Kingery cannot seem to make contact
- Mickey Moniak was way overmatched
So here we are.
This is the same Herrera who Phillies manager Joe Girardi called "inconsistent". Herrera batted just .231 in Spring Training. While that production, if carried on in the major leagues without at bats from Double-A talent in the Grapefruit League, would be better than what the Phillies have gotten from the position, it's still not good enough.
It's almost two years since Herrera saw major league pitching on a regular basis. Will he bat .231? Will that be okay? Will his defense – which was poor enough to warrant a move to right field for nine games towards the end of the season – be good enough in center?
There are many questions that remain about Odubel Herrera the baseball player. After four others couldn't help, it was next man up and that was Herrera.
If Herrera fails? That'll likely be it for him as a Phillie. Travis Jankowski is probably next.
