Odubel Herrera entered the 2015 season as a Rule-5 converted outfielder, who pushed his way into the Opening Day lineup of a bad team, but still didn't necessarily have a very clear future with the team. He left the season, having improved greatly as a center-fielder, and also having batted close to .300, thanks largely to an ability to drive the ball into the gaps.
Third-base coach Juan Samuel told The Philadelphia Inquirer's Bob Brookover that one of the reasons for Herrera's impressive rookie season was his strong work ethic.
"Nobody outworked him," Phillies third base coach Juan Samuel said. "On defense, he just kept getting better and better and better. He put a lot of time in. He gets all the credit. He's the one out there doing it. The one thing that helped him improve as quickly as he did was the pregame preparation. He would power-shag the whole BP."
Samuel, and most, took notice of Herrera's evolution as an outfielder throughout the course of the season. His evolution at the plate was also impressive. While he hit .301 in the first month of his big-league career, Herrera cooled off in May and June, hitting .202 and .261 respectively. Just as some were ready to write him off as a fourth of fifth outfielder on a good team, Herrera bounced-back and hit .362 in July and .333 in August.
Bench-coach Larry Bowa says that some of the changes that Herrera made at the plate throughout the course of last summer were evident to him.
"He was the kind of kid that gave everything he had, and his attitude was the same every game," Bowa said. "I've seen guys play a year or two, and they never make any adjustments. But to me this kid made adjustments last year. You knew he was going to strike out a lot, but I saw him laying off pitches late in the year that he had been swinging at earlier in the year."
The off-season acquisition of Peter Bourjos does leave some question as to whether Herrera will start in center-field this season, or if the team views him as a corner outfielder. Either way, he's going to be starting somewhere on Opening Day, and enters the season with a chance to cement himself as a big part of the Phillies' future.
Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) is the Managing Editor of Philliedelphia.com, focusing on news and features.
