With three top-tier outfield prospects in Triple-A and Odubel Herrera‘s offseason extension, Aaron Altherr seemed to have fallen out of the Phillies outfield plans. Why should he be anyway? He managed a .597 OPS in 2016 after coming back from injury and looked nothing like the guy who had 19 extra-base hits in 39 games in 2015.
Altherr opened the 2017 season as the team’s fourth outfielder after the Phils went out and acquired Howie Kendrick and Michael Saunders to play the corner outfield positions. With both expected to be in the starting lineup most of the time, playing time for Altherr looked slim.