Phillies could potentially lose two outfielders to injury
By John Town
The Phillies have already placed Daniel Nava on the disabled list and Odubel Herrera could be on his way there with his own injury.
The Phillies‘ lineup Tuesday night was missing its hottest hitter in center fielder Odubel Herrera. He was held out of the lineup as he is suffering from a sore left hamstring. Herrera said the injury was painful and manager Pete Mackanin told reporters that Herrera will likely be held out of Wednesday’s game as well.
Herrera said he sustained the injury chasing down a fly ball during Monday’s loss to the Pirates. He felt soreness before the game and was seen favoring the leg after a strikeout in the ninth inning.
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Mackanin said Herrera is day-to-day, but a stint on the disabled list is certainly possible. Aaron Altherr and Daniel Nava were both day-to-day with hamstring injuries this season before winding up on the DL. Altherr returned just to go back on after re-aggravating the injury. He could be out until September.
If Herrera winds up missing extended time, his bat in the lineup will surely be missed.
He is currently in the midst of a 17-game hitting streak. Since July 28, Herrera has a .378/.431/.636 line with nine extra-base hits. In the second half, Herrera’s 2.2 fWAR is the best in baseball as of Tuesday.
In addition to missing Herrera, Nava was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a lower back strain. It is his third stint on the DL this season and may kill any chance of an August trade for Nava.
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Without Nava and Herrera, the outfield is very thin. Tuesday night Rhys Hoskins, Nick Williams, and Hyun-Soo Kim started in the outfield. Cameron Perkins was recalled and is the team’s fourth outfielder with Herrera out. Ty Kelly is available as an emergency fifth outfielder for now.
If Herrera does hit the disabled list, the team doesn’t have very many options. The only other outfielders on the 40-man roster are Roman Quinn and Dylan Cozens. Quinn is injured and could miss the rest of the season while Cozens is struggling heavily in Triple-A. Brock Stassi could come back as a fifth outfielder/first baseman.
The team could also opt to stick with four outfielders – if you count Hoskins as an outfielder – and promote another pitcher to take Mark Leiter’s place in the bullpen.
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Regardless of what the team does, these two injuries thin out what was a very deep position for the Phillies just a few weeks ago when we had to worry about a logjam. Now, the options aren’t all that great.