Odubel Herrera Signs Five-Year Extension With Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies rewarded center fielder Odubel Herrera with a five-year contract extension with $30.5 million guaranteed on Thursday, one that could strongly benefit the team.

Odubel Herrera Signs Five-Year Extension With Phillies

The Venezuelan, who was set to become a free agent after 2020, instead gets a five-year deal with two club options that could keep him with Philadelphia through 2023. He will be 25 later this month.

The club options are in 2022 and 2023 at $11.5 million and $12.5 million. There is no no-trade clause.

Herrera, who hit .297 as a rookie in 2015, improved in his second season, controlling the strike zone better and developing some power.

He made the NL All-Star team in 2016, hitting .313 with a .462 on-base percentage in April and walking 34 times in the season’s first two months.

Overall, 286/.361/.420 in 656 plate appearances, with seven more homers (15) and nine more stolen bases (25) than he had in 2015. He walked 35 more times and cut his strikeout rate by nearly four percent.

In the last 20 years, the Phillies have twice reached contract deals with payers who have less than three years of major-league experience: Pat Burrell, in 2003, for $50 million; and Cole Hamels, following the 2008 World Series, for $20.5 million.

Both Burrell and Hamels had more than two years of service time when they re-signed.

Herrera hit a bit of a bump as the All-Star break neared, and his walk rate dropped significantly as the season progressed. He walked 29 times in 108 games from May 1-on.

Philadelphia selected Herrera eighth overall in the 2014 Rule 5 draft. Herrera, then a second baseman with the Texas Rangers’ farm system, was coming off a season in which he hit .321 at Double A and then .372 in the Venezuelan Winter League.

Earlier this year, Herrera was a finalist in Gold Glove voting.

Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Melvin Upton Jr. and Herrera were the only four outfielders in the major leagues to hit at least 15 homers and steal at least 25 bases last season. Herrera’s six defensive runs saved ranked sixth among National League center fielders, according to Baseball Info Solutions.

MIAMI, FL – SEPTEMBER 06: Odubel Herrera #37 of the Philadelphia Phillies slides into third on a triple during a game against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on September 6, 2016 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena