Odubel Herrera will join Phillies Minicamp

The Philadelphia Phillies kick off Spring Training today, as pitchers and catchers report to Clearwater, Florida. Yesterday, the Phillies announced 12 non-roster invitees to Spring Training and 19 non-roster invitees to minicamp (full lists below). A standout name on the minicamp list would be none other than Odubel Herrera.

Herrera was charged for assaulting his girlfriend at an Atlantic City casino in May 2019. He served an MLB mandated suspension of 85 games without pay in 2019. The charges against Herrera were dropped by his girlfriend. They are still together. Last year, Herrera issued a public apology to the Phillies and fans alike, stating how sorry he was about what happened in the past and how he was receiving counseling to better himself as a person off the baseball field.

Major League Baseball’s joint policy with the MLBPA prohibits a team from voiding the contract or releasing a violating player. The Phillies did however, remove Herrera from their MLB roster and assigned him to the minor leagues at the beginning of last year, stating that Herrera needed to earn every opportunity (if any) to have a future with the Phillies.

With the pandemic, any minor league play was cancelled entirely last season and Herrera never had the opportunity to play. He currently has one year left on the five-year $30.5 million dollar contract that he signed after an All-Star performance in 2016.

The Phillies will have the opportunity to bring any players on the minicamp list up to the MLB roster as they wish. Will they actually bring up Herrera? Right now, that decision seems to be up in the air and will be something that the Phillies organization needs to figure out. Adding to the decision, the only position on the field that is still wide-open would be centerfield.

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12 Non-Roster Invitees to Big League Camp

PITCHERS

• Neftalí Feliz
• Brandon Kintzler
• Bryan Mitchell
• Iván Nova
• Héctor Rondón
• Michael Ynoa

CATCHERS

• Christian Bethancourt
• Rodolfo Durán
• Jeff Mathis

INFIELDERS

• Ronald Torreyes

OUTFIELDERS

• Travis Jankowski
• Matt Joyce

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19 Players Invited to Minicamp

PITCHERS

• Tyler Carr
• Enyel De Los Santos
• Julian Garcia
• JD Hammer
• Jonathan Hennigan
• Jakob Hernandez
• Erik Miller
• David Parkinson
• David Paulino
• Zach Warren

CATCHERS

• Edgar Cabral
• Logan O’Hoppe

INFIELDERS

• Darick Hall
• Bryson Stott
• Luke Williams

OUTFIELDERS

• Odubel Herrera
• Jhailyn Ortiz
• Johan Rojas
• Matt Vierling

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Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY