For a brief time it looked like the Mets might give 22-year-old prospect Dilson Herrera a chance to replace Daniel Murphy as second base, but that idea was squashed once they traded for Neil Walker. And now Herrera is headed back to the minors, as the Mets included him among 20 total players in their second round of spring training cuts today.
Herrera mostly struggled in 31 games for the Mets last season and just turned 22 earlier this month, so more seasoning in the minors isn’t a bad idea for the former top-100 prospect. On the other hand he’s hit .340 at Double-A and .327 at Triple-A while being very young for each level of competition and, had they not pulled off the deal to get Walker from the Pirates for left-hander Jon Niese, the Mets seemed ready to hand him the keys.
Walker is an impending free agent, so as of now things are set up for Herrera to spend the bulk of this season in the minors and then take over as the Mets’ starting second baseman in 2017.
