Dilson Herrera: 2015 NL Champion Mets Back Up Second Baseman (2014-2016/ 2019)

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Dilson Jose Herrera was born on March 3rd, 1994 in Bolivar Columbia. The five foot ten second baseman was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2010. 

He would play at A ball level for the Pirates in 2012 & most of 2013. Late that summer he was traded to the New York Mets in the deal that sent Marlon Byrd & John Buck to Pittsburgh. He ended the year playing at A ball Savannah for seven games.

Herrera would begin 2014 with A ball St. Lucie batting .307 getting him promoted to AA Binghamton.

  In 61 games there he hit .340 with some power: 10 HRs 17 doubles & 48 RBIs. He also stole nine bases & hit three triples. He is scouted as a line drive gap to gap hitter with quick bat speed.

 On August 29th when Daniel Murphy was injured, Herrera made Mets history, becoming the first Mets player in team history to start the season at single A ball & make it to the big league club. 

 Herrera made his debut that night playing second base & batting seventh going 0-3 in a 4-1 Mets win over the Philadelphia Phillies. The next night he got his first hit in a 7-2 loss to the Phils.

 On August 31st, Herrera singled off Philadelphia's Justin DeFratus in the bottom of the 8th inning, with the Mets leading 5-4. The hit scored Kirk Nieuwenhuis with what turned out to be the winning run, as the Phils scored once in the top of the 9th.

 The next day in Miami he hit his first career HR, it came off the Marlins Henderson Alvarez, he added a two run triple later in the game, having a big three RBI day. He would hit another HR a few days later in a big 14-5 Mets win over the Cincinnati Reds. 

 On September 20th in what was his last game of the season, he went 2-3 with another HR & a pair of RBIs. At just 20 years old, Herrera certainly impressed in his short stint in the majors. In 18 games he hit .220 (13-59) with three HRs & 11 RBIs.
Herrera was invited to his second Mets Spring Training in 2015. In his first few games he struggled at the plate but his defense has been admired again. He went in 2015 ranked by Baseball America as the #46 prospect.

 Herrera was brought up to the Mets on May 1st, a week later on May 6th he hit a HR & had three hit three RBI day in a 5-1 Met win over the Baltimore Orioles. On June 14th, he hit another HR, in a 10-8 Mets win over the Atlanta Braves. He was playing a good defense but struggled at the plate. With the Mets in need of runs at that point in the season he was sent down to AAA Las Vegas.
Herrera returned in mid September, On Sunday September 8th, the day after the Mets clinched the NL East title, Herrera played second base, had three hits, a HR & two RBIs. He did not play in the post season.

 In 2015 Herrera played in 31 games, hit 3 HRs with 3 doubles & 6 RBIs batting .211. I'm 29 games at second base he posted a .963 fielding %, making two errors & turning 19 double plays.

In the off season, with the Mets parting ways with Daniel Murphy, they acquired Neil Walker from Pittsburgh to be their main second baseman. They did not have the confidence in the 21 year old Herrera to be a starter, but he was expected to see time in a back up role, although that didn't work out.

He spent most of the season at AAA Las Vegas (86 games) batting .276 with 13 HRs 24 doubles & 55 RBIs. On August 1st, 2016 he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for Jay Bruce. 

 Originally Brandon Nimmo was to be traded but the Reds concerns with his medical records, they demanded Herrera.
He spent the rest of the season at AAA Louisville batting .266. In 2017 he only played in 68 games at AAA Louisville batting .264. In 2018 Herrera would make it back to the Reds playing in 53 games batting .184. 

 At the end of November 2018 the Mets signed him as a free agent. He was invited to Spring Training 2019 where he was seeing action but batting just .125 through his first six games.
He would play 117 games at AAA Syracuse hitting 24 HRs with 64 RBIs. That summer he was relseased & resigned by the Mets, finally getting released in September. 

 In December 2019 he was signed by the Baltimore Orioles Spring Training 2020.

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