Mets' Benge May Steal NL Rookie Of The Year From Wetherholt

The New York Mets are currently 59-72 and are dragging along to the finish line of the regular season with no meaningful baseball in their sights in October.

But that doesn’t mean the last month of the season should be thrown away for a Mets team that has a lot of young talented players with big futures ahead of them. Some of New York’s best players this year have been rookies – right-hander Nolan McLean, center fielder A.J. Ewing and right fielder Carson Benge.

McLean shoved against the first-place Chicago White Sox on Sunday, allowing one hit and four walks with six strikeouts over six innings, and has great overall numbers in his first full season. McLean is 9-8 with a 3.21 ERA (15th), 1.14 WHIP (22nd) and 168 strikeouts (ninth) to 58 walks through 26 starts (148.2 innings).

Ewing has had a rough August, slashing just .167/.253/.218 (.471 OPS) and falling in the batting order, but he played well prior to this month and will be one-third of a talented young outfield in New York for years to come. He has been worth 2.2 WAR over 90 games, as his defense and baserunning (18 stolen bases) have kept him afloat while he figures things out at the plate.

Benge has been incredible for the Mets in all facets of the game, producing a 3.1 WAR over 125 games. He has 16 home runs and 53 RBI as well as 17 doubles and three triples while slashing .278/.337/.428 (.765 OPS). His .278 batting average leads the Mets (Juan Soto doesn’t qualify), as does his 19 stolen bases.

Benge has impressed with his absolute cannon of an arm, throwing out baserunners with throws as hard as 103 mph. He somehow hasn’t accumulated any outs above average, but he’s in the 99th percentile for arm value (5) and arm strength (96.1 mph).

He’s had such a great second half that he’s currently the runner-up to win the National League Rookie of the Year award, only behind St. Louis Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt.

Wetherholt was running away with the award for much of the season, but he’s been in a major extended slump and is starting to lose ground in the race.

“Since the last Awards Watch, the hottest NL rookie has been Benge, who has been doing it in every facet and for an increasingly hot ballclub,” ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle wrote Monday.

“Since the All-Star break, he has hit .319/.369/.504 while playing outstanding defense and sparking the club with his energy. If his recent trajectory remains steady, and Wetherholt doesn't improve at the plate, we could see a heated debate for this award a month from now.”

Cincinnati Reds corner infielder Sal Stewart has put his name in this hat as well, leading the NL with 98 RBI. He is projected to finish third in voting.

According to ESPN’s AXE model, Wetherholt (131.7 AXE) still has a sizeable lead on Benge (116.3 AXE) but there’s still five weeks left to decide the winner.