Odubel Herrera takes his sweet time at plate - a lot of it
The Phillies outfielder is taking longer between pitches than anyone in baseball. The deliberate approach works for him.
WASHINGTON - Stephen Strasburg lobbed a perfect curveball that broke at the outer edge of home plate. Odubel Herrera took it for a called strike. The count was 1-2, and Strasburg owned an advantage.
Herrera nodded Friday afternoon. He meandered out of the batter's box. He blew on his right hand. He practiced a swing. He stared at Strasburg. He looked down at the dirt and kicked his spikes. He flicked his bat forward.
Strasburg stepped off the rubber. Herrera backed away from the plate. Both men readjusted. Herrera tapped his black bat on both corners of the plate.
Strasburg bounced a change-up. There were 35.8 seconds between pitches. Now the count was even.
"Has anyone ever asked him, like, deep thoughts for Odubel?" John Kruk said on the Phillies TV broadcast.
"He just smiles. He just smiles," play-by-play man Tom McCarthy said. "He's one of those guys, if you put one of those thought bubbles over his head . . ."
"That's what I mean," Kruk said. "I would love to be in there."
"You may not get out," McCarthy said.
That is what Odubel Herrera wants you to think.
No hitter in baseball this season has taken more time, on average, between pitches than Herrera. His 31.9 seconds between pitches, according to FanGraphs, is 1.5 seconds longer than the next closest, Seattle's Robinson Cano. Since his debut in 2015, Herrera ranks fourth among all qualified hitters in with an average of 26 seconds between pitches.
The average time between all major-league pitches in the first two weeks of 2017 was 24 seconds.
"He's hitting on his time," Phillies hitting coach Matt Stairs said. "He's not being rushed."
"That's the part of it that I respect," Phillies first baseman Tommy Joseph said. "When he gets in that box, it's all about him. He doesn't worry about anybody else. There's something to be said for that."
Herrera, when asked about his tactic, smiled wide as if someone has cracked his not-so-secret code. He leaned back on a leather couch and howled. There is some gamesmanship involved, of course. Pitchers like to operate at their pace, not the hitter's. Herrera, then, must annoy them.
"Yeah, yeah," Herrera said, through a team interpreter. "Sometimes I even notice they are on the mound, ready to pitch, and I'm not even in the box yet. So they look at me kind of angry. So they get desperate."
Herrera laughed.
"I like getting them angry," he said. "I like getting in their head."
Herrera, 25, owns a .302 batting average and a .373 on-base percentage in his last 250 games (900 at-bats). This season, he has seen 4.2 pitches per plate appearance, a small uptick from his 4.0 average in his first two big-league seasons.
He is a constant conundrum for pitchers. One trend, albeit during just two weeks of games, demonstrates that: Pitchers have thrown Herrera a fastball just 44.8 percent of the time. They threw him 60.8 percent fastballs in 2016. They are searching for a blueprint to conquer him.
"Anything regarding Herrera, I don't know if any of it makes sense," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "He's just an enigma."
So, what is Herrera thinking when he paces the batter's box between pitches?
"It's two things," he said. "One, it helps me relax. I can take a deep breath. I just relax. And it also helps me think about what he's going to throw. He already threw this, what is he going to come up with next?
"Somehow, I gain some confidence every time I step back. I think about it. I just take my time and go back to hitting."
The Venezuelan outfielder is blessed with an innate ability to make contact. "The man has some unbelievable hand-eye coordination," Stairs said. "Great hands." But that alone will not sustain a major-league career. Herrera must think along with the pitcher. That requires an analytical mind, something a silly Herrera does not always project.
He knows his approach is distinct from most hitters. It is his advantage.
"That's the way I am," Herrera said. "To be honest with you, I like it because I am different from everyone else. That's what makes me different. If I don't get hit by a pitch because of that, then it's all good."
He laughed again, then became serious for a moment.
"I always do it with respect," Herrera said. "I never try to disrespect anyone. I know that it can help me."
Herrera was warned twice last season by Major League Baseball officials about wasting too much time between pitches. The commissioner's office wants to quicken games. Herrera, late last season, received a third letter from MLB that notified him of a fine. The two sides negotiated it down to a warning, so long as he behaved for the remainder of the season. He did.
"The batter is not at liberty to step in and out of the batter's box at will," according to Rule 5.04(b) in Major League Baseball's official rule book. But, if a batter swings at a pitch, he can leave the batter's box but not the dirt area surrounding home plate.
Rule 8.04(c), titled "Pitcher Delays," states: "When the bases are unoccupied, the pitcher shall deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball. Each time the pitcher delays the game by violating this rule, the umpire shall call 'Ball.' "
That is not enforced. Until it is, Herrera will use it to his advantage.
"Obviously there's a lot of us who are like, 'All right, I'm taking too much time. I have to do this.' You worry about the pitcher," Joseph said. "Odubel is worried about getting on base at all times throughout his entire at-bat."
On Friday, after Strasburg spiked his change-up to even the count, Herrera took a 96-mph fastball that was probably a strike but called a ball. Herrera pointed downward to aid the umpire. The next pitch, a slider outside, was ball four. Herrera flicked his bat.
The six-pitch encounter had lasted 2 minutes, 50 seconds.
@MattGelb