Mets phenom Benge makes Opening Day roster

NEW YORK -- Following a spring in which he checked every box the team asked of him, starring in Grapefruit League play and benefitting from a teammate’s injury late in camp, Carson Benge has made the Mets’ Opening Day roster. The team made the announcement on Monday afternoon.

Benge, the organization’s No. 2 prospect, will start most days in right field after batting .366/.435/.439 with a double, a triple and a stolen base over 46 spring plate appearances. The 23-year-old Benge figures to hit near the bottom of New York’s lineup at first -- likely the eight hole, where he spent the final days of Spring Training.

“I already came in with that confidence knowing I could hang with the best,” Benge said earlier this spring. “I feel like you’re doing yourself a disservice to not do that, to think that these guys are so much better than you or anything like that. So coming in, I felt like I belonged.”

Although Mets officials carved a clear path for Benge to make the team when they declined to address their corner outfield situation in a significant way this offseason, he still needed to win a job. Following an 0-for-5 start to Grapefruit League play, Benge did almost nothing to hurt his chances, batting .417 the rest of the way while playing strong defense in right. The Mets moved Juan Soto to left field this spring in part to accommodate Benge’s superior throwing arm.

Benge, the No. 16 prospect in baseball, will become the highest-ranked Mets prospect to debut since Francisco Alvarez in 2022.

"It's a big day for the organization -- a kid that gets drafted in 2024 and two years later, here we are, giving him the news that he's going to be playing in the big leagues for us," manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters before breaking camp in Port St. Lucie, Fla. "He earned it. He had a hell of a camp. We are all excited to watch this kid play."

A two-way player and teammate of Nolan McLean at Oklahoma State, Benge was the 19th overall pick of the 2024 Draft. He debuted that summer with a strong showing at Single-A St. Lucie, before jumping three levels last year to put himself on the cusp of the Majors. Overall in 131 Minor League games, Benge hit .280/.389/.468 with 17 homers and 25 stolen bases. The bulk of his power production came during an otherworldly 32-game run at Double-A Binghamton, which earned Benge a quick promotion to Triple-A Syracuse. There, Benge hit just .178 over 24 games, raising questions as to his readiness.

This spring, he answered them to the best of his ability, demonstrating an elite two-strike approach to extend at-bats and use the whole field. Though the left-handed Benge showed little power, he did everything else the Mets could have hoped for.

“He moves the bat really fast, but he’s a really good hitter, too,” hitting coach Troy Snitker said. “He can beat you in multiple different ways. He can back a heater up and hit it hard over the shortstop’s head, and man, you leave a mistake, and he can hit it 430 feet into the stands. It’s an impressive repertoire of skills.”

By the final week of camp, the right-field competition had come down to Benge and Mike Tauchman, a 35-year-old on a Minor League deal who was also enjoying a strong spring. But Tauchman tore the meniscus in his left knee in the team’s penultimate Grapefruit League game, ending his roster bid and making Benge an even more obvious choice than he already was.

He will start alongside Soto and Luis Robert Jr. in the Mets’ outfield, with Benge and Robert in particular forming one of the better defensive tandems in the Majors.

"Joy over everything, just knowing that I worked hard for it," is how Benge said he reacted to the news. "Countless hours I spent, and all my family members and friends that have sacrificed some time for me, and that it's all going to come true -- my dream since I was little -- is pretty cool."