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Every team needs an offensive leader, mathematically, and the fourth-least run scoring (626), second-to-last OPS-having (.684), bird murder-fostering Phillies had one too. Say hello to Odubel Herrera, a man I, in my infinite baseball prowess, was telling you to shut up about only six months ago. He is the Phillies' nominee for the 2015 Hank Aaron Award, and the beat writers couldn't be more supportive.
Odubel Herrera is the Phillies nominee. He had a very nice year. He will not be winning. Every team gets a nominee. https://t.co/szNI9OuKGW
— Ryan Lawrence (@ryanlawrence21) October 5, 2015
Many seem to believe Herrera will serve as yet another deft move by the Phillies in the bizarre world of the Rule 5 draft, and through his first MLB season, it's looking good. By comparison, in his first full year with the Phillies, Shane Victorino hit .287/.346/.414 with four stolen bases and 33 extra-base hits, though he had barely begun to SHANF.
Plucking Herrera from the Rangers, who have wound up supplying the Phillies with an arsenal of young players by this point, can certainly be viewed as a win for the front office. Herrera was a dynamo at the plate, compared to some of the names filling out this lineup at times. He hit .297 with a .762 OPS, 30 doubles, three triples, and 16 stolen bases in 24 tries. He also showed so much interest in his performance that Pete Mackanin had to bench him for "pouting," which is what baseball people call "throwing a baseball bat" but in real life is referred to more often as "Jesus Christ, Justin; dinner will be ready in 15 minutes and where did you even get that bat."
Herrera's 3.8 WAR led the team, a category in many of his squadmates stayed in the negatives (Including Grady Sizemore! I thought the whole 'Grady Sizemore' thing was like four years ago, but no, it was April. It was April.). To Herrera's credit, he was also one of the few Phillies to be on the team and see significant playing time for most of the season. A lot of regular starters were traded and others missed time due to injury. Carlos Ruiz is listed as the everyday catcher and he appeared in only 86 games.
You can vote for Odubel here, if you so desire, and maybe you should. With Dee Gordon swiping the NL batting title out of Bryce Harper's hands on the final day of the season, this could be another award the Nationals don't get this season.
Click the wrong name by accident six or seven times in a row? No problem, you can vote ~*~ten times~*~ a day. MLB has literally thought of everything.