Dilson Herrera had perhaps the most impressive season of any Mets prospect this year. Herrera batted .323 with 13 home runs, 71 RBI and 23 steals while playing second base for High-A St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton. He was a major force in the B-Mets lineup in the second half with an outstanding .340/.406/.560 slash line. What makes his performance even more impressive is the fact that he was one of the youngest players in the league at just 20 years old.
General Manager Sandy Alderson recently spoke with MMO about Herrera and he was also very encouraged by his performance. Here’s what he had to say:
“We’re very happy with his progress. I mean, it was phenomenal last year really coming from Port St. Lucie through Binghamton and up to the major league club. It was tough for me to make the decision to bring Dilson up to the major leagues knowing how important he had been to Binghamton. I think I called [B-Mets owner] Mike Urda and said, ‘Look, I really apologize, but this is really what we need to do.’ And he was the right guy at the time. We had some playing time because [Daniel] Murphy was down.
“Herrera has surprising power for his size. He runs well. He’s very athletic. Turns the double play. I think he’s going to get more consistent defensively. He’s got pretty good hands and moves laterally well. We were impressed with him during his time with us. He had very good at-bats. I think he hit three home runs. So he’s got some real potential. And we were very happy with him during the course of his time with us, and he’ll come to spring training.
“You know, our middle-infield situation over the next couple of years is probably going to be in a little bit of flux. So he’s got an excellent opportunity.”
It will be interesting to see how Sandy Alderson approaches the second base situation going forward. Given the Mets depth at the position, I would not be surprised to see him make a trade at some point. The Mets have a lot of options with Herrera, Daniel Murphy, and possibly Wilmer Flores. There is also L.J. Mazzilli in the minors, who is receiving a lot of praise of late.
However, I think the best move right now is for Herrera to start the season in AAA. The Mets already have a solid hitter at second base with Murphy, so there is no urgency to rush his development. While Herrera flashed a lot of potential during his September call-up, his performance was uneven and he still needs more time in the minors to refine his skills. He made several costly errors in the field, and batted only .220 despite hitting a few impressive home runs. However, his potential is undeniable.
