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Phillies bench slumping Odubel Herrera as Howie Kendrick returns

The centerfielder is batting .217. "I think I need to focus more. That's what I need to do," Herrera said.

MIAMI - Odubel Herrera's slump reached the point where manager Pete Mackanin was left with no other choice but to pull him from the lineup. The Phillies centerfielder sat out Monday's series opener against the Marlins and will sit again Tuesday.

Herrera entered Monday with just one hit and eight strikeouts in his last 21 at-bats. He is batting .181 in May and .217 for the season. The 25-year-old said he has never gone through a slump like this.

"Not even in the minor leagues," Herrera said through an interpreter. "But one thing is for sure, I'm going to come out of it as soon as possible."

Last week, Mackanin seemed opposed to sitting Herrera, saying he wanted to let the outfielder battle out of his funk. Herrera responded by going 1 for 12 over the weekend.

"I told him I want him to really concentrate on what he's not doing well and the mistakes he's making and to work on that for two days," Mackanin said.

His slump deepened as Herrera lost the plate discipline that made him the team's most valuable player over the last two seasons. Herrera is swinging at more pitches than ever before and chasing pitches outside the strike zone at a higher rate than the last two seasons. He has walked just 11 times, a third of the amount he totaled at this point last season. It is a mind-set, Mackanin said.

"I think I need to focus more. That's what I need to do," Herrera said. "Not the work. I've been putting the work in. I've been working really hard. But I need to find that approach that I had last year, be more disciplined and more selective. That's what I need to go back to."

This season was never about chasing pennants, but instead the 162 games can provide insight into a young roster. So far, Herrera and Maikel Franco have been crushing disappointments. They were pegged to be two of the team's top hitters and the best candidates to still be a part of the organization when the team becomes a contender.

Franco, who had his own two-game benching last week, went 1 for 10 over the weekend and entered Monday batting .213 in May. The two-game benching failed to immediately turn around Franco's season, but Mackanin hopes it can have a different effect on Herrera. He joked that Herrera would be his old self - the one who went to last season's All-Star Game - come Wednesday.

"I said two years ago after seeing him for a full year that he had a chance to win a batting title," Mackanin said. "He's so unorthodox, he hit so many pitches and could take two bad swings, then all of a sudden turn on something. It was uncanny the way he could do that. And he hasn't been doing that this year. He's a hard guy to figure out."

Kendrick returns

Howie Kendrick returned from the disabled list on Friday and started in left field as Aaron Altherr manned center for Herrera. It was Kendrick's first game after missing 37 games with an oblique strain. Mackanin said he could also play Kendrick at second base, first base, in right field, and at third base, which may be a likely landing spot if Franco fails to get going.

Extra bases

The Phillies plan to promote a pitcher from triple A before Saturday's game against San Francisco to fill the spot of Zach Eflin, who was demoted to the minors on Sunday. Ben Lively and Nick Pivetta are the likely candidates. . . . Triple-A outfielder Nick Williams was named the International League's player of the week after homering six times in seven games for Lehigh Valley.