With a trip to the DL after breaking his finger during pre-game drills on Friday, New York Mets second baseman Dilson Herrera is unlikely to be back in the big leagues before September. After an outstanding April in triple-A, Herrera was called up to replace the injured David Wright in the Mets lineup, with Daniel Murphy moving to third base. By the time Herrera is healthy, there may not be room for him on New York’s roster, and more importantly, he showed over the past two weeks that he is not yet ready to be a full-time big leaguer.
In 10 games, Herrera put up a meager line of .235/.297/.353 with just two extra-base hits and nine strikeouts. Despite a few bright spots, Herrera often looked outmatched and out of his depth against big league pitchers, making it clear that he is not yet ready to assume the everyday second baseman job in New York. His time with the Mets coincided with a miserable display of offense by the team, not that Herrera is solely to blame for New York’s offensive ineptitude.
Herrera’s struggles are easily explained; he’s barely 21 years old and among the youngest players in the big leagues, and when he eventually returns to triple-A, he’ll be among the youngest players at that level too. In a way, it was a bit surprising to see Herrera struggle after putting up a line of .370/.402/.506 in triple-A in April. However, due to his age, Herrera has little experience facing upper level pitchers, making his transition from triple-A to the majors much harder. He has just 109 career games at double-A or higher, making him profoundly inexperienced facing upper level pitchers.
When Herrera returns from his finger injury, he should return to triple-A for the remainder of the season, putting to rest any thought of Murphy not being the everyday second baseman in New York for the remainder of the 2015 season. At this point, Herrera simply needs more reps against upper-level pitching, and as long as the Mets are in contention, they can’t afford to have him finish his development at the major league level.
Even if Herrera continues to put up gaudy numbers in triple-A, the Mets should continue to keep him in the minors until September. Herrera has done nothing to indicate that he can’t be the Mets’ second baseman of the future, and he may be ready to assume that role at the start of the 2016 season, but right now, he’s just not ready to play every day in the majors.
Bryan Zarpentine is a New York Mets writer at www.RantSports.com. Like him on Facebook, follow him on twitter @BZarp and add him on Google.