By: Tim Kelly, Managing Editor 
Though the Philadelphia Phillies completed one of the biggest trades in franchise history with the Texas Rangers during the 2015 season — a trade that netted them what they hope will be at least four long-term impact players, the biggest impact that the team may get in the coming years from a former Rangers prospect may be from Odubel Herrera.
Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told MLB.com's Jon Paul Morosi recently that of the prospects that the organization has lost in their recent transactions, Herrera is one that he would like to have back.
"The greatest compliment we could pay our scouting and player-development people is that we have always been in the position to make a move if we need to," Daniels told MLB.com this week in a telephone interview. "These guys have, in my opinion, performed at the top of the industry as far as producing players. Look at the number of homegrown players we have in the big leagues right now. We're proud of that.''
"Some of them I'd like to have back: Odubel [Herrera], Kyle Hendricks, Tanner Roark … They've all performed better than we anticipated. But that goes back to our people, too. We have a mind-set that we're trying to win, and we know those stories are going to come up. We're not afraid to take a risk and know that we'll probably read about a prospect playing well elsewhere.
Herrera certainly falls under the category of performing 'better than anticipated,' because he wasn't a high-profile prospect traded in a move to acquire a proven veteran like Cole Hamels. He was instead a prospect that lacked a position in the minor leagues, leading the Rangers not to protect him prior to the 2014 Rule 5 Draft, where the Phillies ultimately selected him.
Since being selected, Herrera, just 24, has shown signs of being a potential franchise cornerstone for the Phillies. After an impressive rookie season that saw him hit .297, Herrea is currently batting .327, which puts him just outside the top five hitters in the National League. And as for not having a position, Herrera has become one of the better fielding center fielders in the game. Since the start of the 2015 season, Fangraphs says that Herrera has been the fifth best center fielder in the MLB according to the metric UZR.
As Daniels noted, it speaks highly of an organization's ability to develop talent if the prospects that they trade turn into impressive big leaguers. The unfortunate part for the Rangers however, is that unlike some other trades, the Rangers didn't get a big leaguer back in return for losing a player like Herrera.
