The New York Mets brought Mike Tauchman to camp to provide competition for Carson Benge, but both could make the roster.
The battle for right field is one of the toughest positional competitions in New York Mets camp, with prospect Carson Benge fighting to make the roster while veteran Mike Tauchman has countered with an impressive performance that’s worthy of the job.
One element that makes it even more intriguing was revealed by Darrah McDonald of MLBTradRumors.com, who noted via Will Sammon of The Athletic that Tauchman has a March 25th opt-out in his current minor-league deal.
This complicates things considerably for the Mets. It’s extremely unlikely that the Mets will keep both outfielders, and Benge has been banging out hits on a regular basis, posting a slash line of .401/.472/.500 going into today’s spring training action. Benge came into spring training with the understanding that the job would be his if he showed out in camp, and he’s done just that.
Tauchman’s slash line of .333/.481/.619 comes with an OPS of 1.101, which is slightly higher than Benge’s current number of .972. Benge brings better defense to the table, which was one of his calling cards as a prospect, while Tauchman has more pop along with the versatility to handle all three outfield positions if necessary.
There’s more to the picture in this outfield battle, however. Two outfield slots are locked in with Juan Soto in left and Luis Robert Jr. in center, and while Soto doesn’t like to DH, Robert could get some games there as the Mets work to keep him healthy.
Then there’s Brett Baty, who was bumped off third base by the signing of Bo Bichette and came to camp as a candidate to win the super utility role. Baty has fared well at every position he’s played so far, including the outfield, despite the steepness of his learning curve at several positions. His slash line of .381/.435/.619 to go with an OPS of 1.054 fits right in with what Benge and Tauchman have done to date.
Other outfield candidates include Tyrone Taylor and MJ Melendez, but Taylor is basically a defense-first player, while Melendez still has a minor league option available and could still be sent to Triple A.
The decisions with other parts of the roster will affect who wins this battle as well. Corner infielder Mark Vientos hasn’t hit at all to date, and it’s somewhat surprising that he’s even with the Mets at this point, although the Mets would be selling low if they moved him. A late move with him would clear out a roster spot that might allow the Mets to carry an extra outfielder, but that option hints that Tauchman could be auditioning for a new team if the Mets decide to go with Benge and give him the at-bats they need.