Herrera among players in Phillies’ new core

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Two years after Philadelphia selected him from Texas in the winter-meeting draft, outfielder Odubel Herrera arrived at spring training as an All-Star and the Phillies’ top position player.

Among the Gold Glove finalists, the 25-year-old Herrera agreed to a $30.5 million, five-year contract during the offseason and is part of Philadelphia’s post-Ryan Howard era rebuilding.

“We all wanted to find out how he’d react with that nice contract. He reacted the right way, boy. He’s doing all of the drills with a lot of energy, and it looks like he’s enjoying himself,” Philadelphia manager Pete Mackanin said. “He’s so full of energy. He’s been chirping a lot with the guys, and he’s setting the tone by example.”

Herrera hit .286 last year with a .361 on-base percentage, 15 home runs, 21 doubles and 25 steals in 32 attempts.

“He has good hand-eye coordination, unorthodox for sure, but he’s one of those guys who I call a hit collector,” Mackanin said. “He just gets hits even though it doesn’t look pretty all the time. With a little bit more plate discipline, he has a chance to win a batting title.”

Signed by Texas as a free agent from Venezuela in 2008, Herrera spent the majority of his time in the Rangers organization as a middle infielder. He made just 11 starts in the outfield in 610 minor league games.

He was given outfield time during the 2014-15 Venezuelan Winter League and at the start of the 2015 season supplanted Ben Revere as the Phillies regular center fielder.

“It’s very satisfying, I’m learning a lot, and every day I feel like I learn something different,” Herrera said through an interpreter. “I have good mentors, good people that are focusing on me, trying to get me better.”

Outfielder instructor Juan Samuel, among those working with Herrera, was a three-time AllStar who moved from second base to center field entering his sixth major league season in 1989.