Phillies 2019 season preview: OF Odubel Herrera
Projecting Odubel Herrera’s 2019 season
Don’t be shocked if we see a lot of the same from Herrera in 2019, although the added leadership with Andrew McCutchen and Jean Segura could help push him in the right direction.
Fans should expect to see some fantastic stretches from Herrera where everything is clicking, followed by a month or two where he doesn’t look like a major league player.
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Some pressure will likely be taken off Herrera’s shoulders when Gabe Kapler writes out his star-studded lineups. With so many acquisitions this offseason Herrera could find himself hitting either seventh or eighth, which isn’t a knock on him at all. It could be a great opportunity to drive in runs at the bottom of the order and to utilize his speed on the basepaths.
Baseball Reference projects Herrera to have a .267/.327/.423 slash line with 25 doubles and 16 home runs in 2019.
I can see Herrera hitting a little bit better with 30 doubles and 20 home runs, but that’s being optimistic. The Baseball Reference projection is a good baseline for Odubel going into a critical season now that the Phillies are ready to compete for a division and potentially a World Series title.
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Fans should hope for more doubles than home runs, which is weird when you think about it, but when Herrera gets home run happy he loses his concentration and his overall play goes down.