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NEW YORK -- GM Sandy Alderson offered his thoughts on most of the Mets' top upper-level prospects during an interview Friday morning on WIOX 91.3 in the Catskills. Here's what Alderson said: Steven Matz, left-hander "He had a very good season in 2013, and exceeded that in 2014, both at St. Lucie and at Binghamton. His numbers were very similar at both places, which is very positive given the fact that he had moved up a level. I would say Steven is probably one of the top handful of left-handed pitching prospects in the game right now. The guy who was supposed to be the best left-handed prospect, Andrew Heaney, came up to the Marlins last year and didn't do particularly well in his transition, but I think Steven is very comparable. He's got an excellent fastball for a lefty, at 93, 94 mph. It can get a little bit higher than that. His breaking ball has gotten much better. And he threw some excellent changeups that night in Binghamton in that championship game. "He's been on the roster. He was on the roster last year. He'll, of course, be on the roster again this year. I think the difference is that last year we put him on the roster to protect the talent. This year I think he's got a chance potentially sometime during the season to help us at the major league level." Brandon Nimmo, outfielder "There are several qualities that I think distinguish Brandon. One is his commitment to excellence, if you will. He's a tremendously competitive individual. He takes his preparation very seriously. He has grown physically very impressively over the last couple of years through offseason workouts. He has an approach that's very consistent with what we try to promote, which is selectivity at the plate. Being aggressive with good judgment, I guess, is how we look at it -- getting a good pitch to hit. If anything, at Binghamton, I think he began to demonstrate a little more power, which we think he has. There may be a little trade-off between his discipline at the plate and his ability to turn on the ball, but I think that's something that's coming. He's a very committed guy." Dilson Herrera, second baseman "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." Matt Reynolds, shortstop "He's been solid at shortstop. And we've left him there and expect that he'll be able to remain there. He's also an excellent athlete. He's got a strong arm, pretty good range defensively. Offensively, he had just a great season last year -- really a breakout season for him both at Binghamton and at Las Vegas. The numbers get a little inflated at Las Vegas, but his were right in line with what he had done in Binghamton. "I think what he's done -- by his own word, he's indicated -- he's started to use all the field. He's not really trying to pull everything. And although he had some home runs, and I think he's got three home runs already in the Arizona Fall League, he tries to use the whole field. He's sort of a gap-to-gap guy. So we're very high on Reynolds and hope that he can at least at the outset of 2015 duplicate what he was able to do last year." Kevin Plawecki, catcher "Plawecki is very solid -- one of the handful of best catching prospects in baseball. I think we're fortunate to have two young guys like [Travis] d'Arnaud and Plawecki. Plawecki is a little different hitter -- more of a contact hitter, more patient at the plate. But I think he has some power potential. He's a big guy. "Defensively, he catches the ball well, blocks reasonably well. He probably has an average arm, but is very solid behind the plate and I think develops a pretty good rapport with his pitching staff. So we're very high on both of those players. ... "Right now we're fortunate that we have two who are essentially major league ready -- I think Plawecki is close -- of such high quality. At the same time, as they sort of both converge on the major leagues, it's a question of whether both can be accommodated. I think there are circumstances under which that's possible. For example, sharing the catching duties and then one of them playing first base a little bit or playing in the outfield. Or, during interleague games one of them DHing against left-handed pitching. I think there are ways to do it. The question is really whether that's the best use of those two resources. And it may be, because beyond those two there's a little bit of a drop-off at least in the catching we have in the system. We've got a couple of very young guys that we really like, but there may be a little bit of a drop-off after Plawecki. And so we have to be careful about trying to keep both of those guys in the system." Michael Conforto, outfielder "Since I arrived in New York, he's the first first-round pick out of college that we've drafted. Our other three had been high school players. So I do expect that he'll move a little more quickly. We did get him to Savannah for the playoffs late in the season this year. So I would expect that he'll move more quickly than some of our other top draft picks have certainly. "Michael comes from a very athletic and competitive family. His father, I think, was a linebacker at Penn State. He played football there. His mother is a former Olympic athlete -- a medalist in synchronized swimming. So he comes from a very athletic family. He's a great kid, very humble and committed to the game and has interacted with fans -- I think a terrific individual, and an outstanding hitter. "A left-handed hitter, power is probably not his foremost quality. He's got some, but he's more of a gap-to-gap guy -- high average, high on-base percentage -- and a pretty good defender, which was not his reputation coming into the draft. But based on the time he spent in Brooklyn and then Savannah, our guys were very pleased with him defensively. He's kind of an all-around player, and we do expect that he'll move very quickly."
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