Odubel Herrera has been playing well for the Phillies. (Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports)
PHILADELPHIA — Rookie center fielder Odubel Herrera didn’t come out of nowhere, just the Texas Rangers’ Double-A affiliate in Frisco, Texas. Close enough.
Either way, his quick start has taken the Philadelphia Phillies by surprise. Selected in the Rule Five draft in December, he is hitting .298 to date, including a 1-for-4 night in Tuesday’s 7-3 victory over Miami. He also leads the club with seven extra-base hits.
“It’s amazing,” manager Ryne Sandberg said. “It almost doesn’t matter, the name on the back of the jersey of the pitcher. From spring training all the way through now, he just goes up there and swings the bat and sees the ball and hits it.
“He really keeps it real simple as a young player, and doesn’t overthink things. It kind of goes back to the basics of hitting a baseball — seeing the ball and hitting it, and battling at-bats, and tough with two strikes and using the whole field. A lot of those things fall into what he does. That all makes sense to me.”
Sandberg is no less impressed by Herrera’s work in the outfield, noting that the youngster spends a half-hour before every game honing his defense during batting practice.
“He goes wall to wall,” Sandberg said. “He gets jumps on balls he’s not even going to catch, chases them all the way to the wall and plays them off the wall. … I think that’s pretty impressive, and I think that’s really helped him take that into the game.
“It’s still a learning position for him, but he’s going about it the right way, as far as getting all the reps and all the reads. When a player practices like that, he really gets a feel of the different stadiums he’s in, and how the ball comes and travels. He really has an idea of the wind and the sun and everything. I think his pregame is really the biggest thing that really stands out to me. Then he carries that over into the game.”
