Baltimore Orioles: Dilson Herrera Is An Interesting Spring Follow

Baltimore Orioles utility man Dilson Herrera is someone worth keeping tabs on this spring.

We all know the starting rotation and utility man competitions in Baltimore Orioles camp this spring won’t make any national headlines, but they are two of the more interesting storylines coming out of Sarasota and that’s where the 2020 Orioles stand at the moment.

Developing any strong takeaways from the first week of spring training games and how manager Brandon Hyde has constructed his lineups in these games isn’t a worthwhile discussion at the moment, but it has quickly become clear that a few different players are going to be given every opportunity possible to make the 2020 roster.

One of those players is utility man Dilson Herrera. Signed to a minor league deal after spending the 2019 season playing Triple-A ball in the New York Mets organization, Herrera has appeared in five games this spring, leading the team with 12 at-bats and making four appearances at first base and one in the outfield.

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The 25-year-old out of Colombia has played the majority of his career at second base, but has seen significant time at every position on the diamond except for catcher, pitcher, and centerfield across his nine-year professional career, both in the minor leagues and during his brief amount of time in the major leagues.

Herrera doesn’t have any minor league options remaining, so he’s not someone who has the versatility to go between Triple-A and the big leagues as needed. However, if the bat plays well this spring, Herrera is certainly someone worth watching more closely as we move through the Grapefruit League schedule.

Last season in the minors, Herrera hit 24 home runs and produced a .248/.330/.501 slash line with a 107 wRC+. He also chipped in 29 doubles. The juiced baseball in the International League certainly boosted those numbers, but the 5’10” right-handed hitter brings more than 900 games worth of experience to the table and position flexibility.

In five spring training games, Herrera is 3-12 (.250 average) with two doubles, three runs scored, one RBI, one walk, and four strikeouts.