The New York Mets asked Carson Benge to come to camp and grab the right field job, and Benge has had a great spring.
Outfield prospect Carson Benge has been one of the biggest storylines in New York Mets camp, and he knows it. He’s made his case both at the plate and in the field, and the only thing he can do now is keep playing and keep posting great numbers.
“It’s coming down to the wire,” Benge said to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “I’d like to know, but it’s not the end of the world. I can wait.”
The numbers are serious. Benge is hitting .406 so far, which ranks 34th among over 500 players who have made at least 25 plate appearances in spring training. He’s seeing 4.2 pitches per plate appearance, according to DiComo, working deep counts and hitting the ball all over the field. On Monday he hit a single that clocked in at 107.6 mph, which was Benge’s hardest hit ball of the spring.
In the outfield, Benge is also showcasing what DiComo called a “tractor beam” arm. (We think he meant laser beam?) DiComo also referenced what scouts have called his plus-plus outfield defense in right, which was more or less a given coming into camp.
Mets officials are still going to wait until just before Opening Day to make the final call on whether Benge will makes the roster, and another impressive footnote was the outfielder’s reference to handling adversity.
“I feel like I’ve carried myself well through good and bad play,” Benge said. “Just fighting, trying to do everything I can, play my game and just let things work out for themselves.”
But Benge’s performance isn’t the only thing that needs to be worked out. His main competitor in the outfield, Mike Tauchman, has also played well, and Tauchman has an opt-out right before Opening Day, and the Mets would be thin on outfield depth if they lose him.
The return of shortstop Francisco Lindor from a hamate bone fracture makes it possible for the Mets to carry two outfielders. This would be an unusual move, which is probably part of why manager Carlos Mendoza is slow crawling the resolution to this situation.
“He needs to continue to play his game,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “There’s a lot that can happen between now and Opening Day.”
The more relevant comments were provided by Benge’s new hitting coach, Troy Snitker, who worked with Houston Astros hitters before coming over to New York and says that Benge has “done a good job of just being a really good hitter right now.”
“He can beat you in multiple different ways,”Snitker added. “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.”
That doesn’t sound like a player who needs time at Triple-A, although that inevitable first slump is somewhere out there waiting for Benge. Given that the Mets asked Benge to make a run for the job, it’s getting harder by the day to understand why they’re not pulling the trigger on this decision.