Mets’ Carson Benge fights to adjust to major leagues
Carson Benge knew his adjustment to the large leagues “wasn’t going to be easy.” But…
“It still sucks to struggle at any level,” he instructed Newsday just lately. “But I feel like being in there, just giving quality AB after quality AB is my goal. Not too focused on the results. Just putting good ABs together for my team, and I feel like that will turn into something pretty good down the line.”
Through almost one month of his rookie season, the 23-year-old outfielder has a .179/.247/.282 slash line with two homers, 4 RBIs and 6 stolen bases in 25 video games after going 2-for-4 within the second sport of Sunday’s doubleheader sweep by the hands of the Rockies.
The preliminary offensive struggles for Benge – who entered the season because the Mets’ No. 2 prospect and the Sixteenth-best prospect in baseball, in accordance to MLB.com – actually aren’t distinctive to him. And one in every of Benge’s first mentors in skilled baseball, Mets outfield and first base coach Gilbert Gomez, mentioned he has been “great” dealing with the whole lot that comes with the adjustment.
“He’s ready to play every time he comes in here, always looking for information, always willing to work,” mentioned Gomez, who was Benge’s supervisor at High-A Brooklyn final season. “I’m just proud that he’s been able to transition that part of the game into this environment.”
In a season that has gone nothing just like the Mets anticipated via 28 video games, it is easy to overlook simply how briskly Benge rocketed via their system. The Oklahoma State product was the Mets’ 2024 first-round decide (No. 19 total), beginning final season in Brooklyn and ending it with Triple-A Syracuse.
He has performed in solely 131 profession minor-league video games, and whereas he went out and earned his spot because the Mets’ beginning rightfielder out of camp – he batted .366 with an .874 OPS in spring coaching – the function was solely obtainable due to David Stearns’ retooling of the roster. He was simply the fourth participant this century to make his MLB debut for the Mets with an Opening Day begin.
“I think it’s a learning curve, which is the same thing with every player that comes up for the first time,” Gomez mentioned. “Defensively, he’s handling it pretty well, man. He’s made some really nice plays. It seems like he got faster, like the eye test and then the data backs it up. He’s been able to cover some ground and make some plays, play everywhere in the outfield.
“We’re excited with the truth that he hasn’t taken the at-bats to protection. He’s been taking part in actually laborious protection, and we all know the at-bats are going to get higher. That’s going to include time and expertise.”
The data indeed backs it up.
Benge ranks in MLB’s 95th percentile in fielding range with three outs above average (OAA), according to Baseball Savant, which defines OAA as a “range-based metric of skill that shows how many outs a player has saved over his peers.” Benge has played all around the outfield, with 10 starts in leftfield (all after Juan Soto injured his calf on April 3), nine in rightfield and three in centerfield.
He has committed two errors, both fielding errors as a leftfielder against the Athletics on April 10 and 11, but the metrics remain solid. He also ranks in the 92nd percentile in arm strength (an average of 92.4 mph) and in the 90th percentile in sprint speed.
Offensive struggles, of course, aren’t limited to the big leagues. Gomez noted how hitless streaks – like the 0-for-24 skid Benge had earlier in the season – also happen in the minors, away from the limelight of New York. What does he see as the next steps in Benge’s progression?
“I think continue to understand who he is as a player, who he is as a hitter, understanding situations,” Gomez said. “I think it’s just experience. Being able to [learn] – not only for himself, but also see that in other players, whether it’s our team or other teams – and be able to learn from mistakes that he makes and mistakes that other people are making. But I think it’s just experience and understanding who he is and what he needs to do to be successful.”
Benge acknowledged that “it’s a long season” and he’s learned not to “take anything for granted.” He added that if he sticks to his process, “things will work out.”
Gomez agrees.
“I was throwing BP to him early in the year, and I was like, ‘Man, I was throwing you BP in Coney Island last year, now we’re here in Citi Field,’” Gomez said. “So it is fairly cool. He understands what’s at stake, proper?”
“He knows all the work that he needs to put in to be a good ballplayer in the big leagues, and he’s willing to do it.”
