Carson Benge and the hope he gives the Mets for a renaissance
Benge's five-hit day on Sunday offered the Mets a prayer to get them back into contention this season
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets defeated the Padres by a score of 7-3 on Sunday in San Diego (box)
The Mets went with an opener in Huascar Brazobán in front of Sean Manaea’s solid bulk relief outing on Sunday - Brazoban pitched a scoreless first, Manaea allowed two runs over four innings, and the rest of the bullpen combined to allow just a single run over the game’s final four innings
Carson Benge posted the biggest day of his young career, tallying five hits and 10 total bases with a triple, a homer, two RBI and three runs scored, becoming the first rookie since Pete Alonso on August 15, 2019 to record five hits in a single game
Both Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette notched two hit days - Semien homered in the second for his eighth of the year
MJ Melendez also homered, and Brett Baty doubled and walked
The Mets finished their fourth and final road trip to the west coast with a 3-3 record, have won seven of their last ten games, and are 19-15 since May 1
Play of the Game ✨
With a runner on first and nobody out in the second, MJ Melendez made a tremendous diving catch in left field going away to save an extra-base hit off the bat of Miguel Andújar, potentially changing the entire complexion of the ball game early.
At best, the Padres would’ve had second and third and nobody out, setting San Diego up to tie the game against Sean Manaea, and potentially an even bigger inning than that.
Who’s Hot 🔥
Over his last 21 games, Carson Benge is hitting .318/.381/.904 with four doubles, a triple, four home runs, 13 RBI with 28 hits and 17 runs scored
Over his last nine games, Marcus Semien is hitting .303/.361/.697 with a double, four home runs, six RBI with ten hits and seven runs scored
Over his last 19 games, Bo Bichette is hitting .293/.341/.480 with three doubles, a triple, three home runs, 14 RBI with 22 hits and 11 runs scored
Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
In the latest edition of the Just Mets Podcast, Andrew and Rich recap the Mets’ 3-3 trip out west, discuss the rise of the Mets’ rookie outfielders, and more as the Mets look to stabilize their season into mid-June.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Down on the Farm 🌾
OF Matt Rudick (AAA): 2-for-3, HR, 3 RBI
OF Vincento Perozo (AA): 2-for-4, HR, RBI, R
C Diversion Gutierrez (High-A): 2-for-3, BB, 2B, 3 RBI
C Chase Meggers (Low-A): 2-for-4, 3 RBI, R
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
The Mets are off today. They open a three-game series with the Cardinals on Tuesday night at Citi Field.
One good thing that offers hope for the Mets ✍️
So, the Mets finished their fourth and final West Coast trip with a 3-3 record. An up-and-down week for sure, but a solid finish to the trip after winning three of their final four games after starting out with two sleepy losses.
There were some good things, there were some bad things, there were some good injury updates, some not-so-good injury updates. But meet the Mets, I suppose, who have looked better over the last ten days but remain seven games under .500, five games out of the final wild card, and forget the National League East at this point.
But let’s talk about a good thing, specifically with Carson Benge.
That is about as great of a day for any player, rookie or otherwise, can have in baseball. But it’s representative of an ascent for a rookie the Mets really haven’t seen since Pete Alonso in 2019. Now, that rookie season will probably go unmatched for a long time, as Alonso set the rookie home run record that year with 54, won the rookie of the year award, and that helped ascend him to the most prolific home run hitter the club has ever had.
And that ascent is really necessary, as the Mets haven’t really graduated a rookie position player like Benge since Alonso seven years ago.
The Mets were really excited by Benge heading into the off-season, so much so that David Stearns said way back in November that Benge would have a chance to make the team out of camp. I actually didn’t believe him at the time - I thought that was GM speak, like so many do during that time of year, about their players, their rosters, their depth, and really an attempt to create leverage with agents through the media.
But, when the Mets went the curious route they did during the winter, a path became pretty wide for Benge to make the team, and Stearns repeated his message about Benge’s roster prospects numerous times throughout the winter months and at the beginning of Spring Training.
And, well, there he was starting for the weirdly configured Mets on Opening Day and flashing the promise Stearns had touted in the six months leading up to that date with a homer, stolen base, and two runs scored against Paul Skenes and the Pirates.
Now, it hasn’t been easy for Benge since that date, and there were times I seriously thought he should go back to the minors, especially as the Mets were floundering through April. He looked overmatched, overwhelmed, and often times flat out clueless at the plate.
That’s a long way of saying he didn’t look ready.
But, the Mets stuck with him, stayed patient, trusted his skillset, and allowed him to adjust and grow at the big league level. Over the last three weeks or so, it looks like that patience has paid off, as Benge has emerged as a legit All-Star candidate for the Mets and probably injected himself into the periphery of the rookie of the year race in the National League.
He’s flashing five-tool potential right now. He’s showing a combination of power, speed, elite defense, and contactability. He’s a dead-red hitter right now, which isn’t uncommon for a young, inexperienced hitter. But his bat speed is up to the task, and he is in the top percentiles in expected batting average. He will eventually have to make better adjustments against off-speed, especially as the league adjusts back to him, but his own ability to adjust midstream as a rookie offers a reason to believe he will figure that out when it happens.
But honestly, the most impressive part of Benge’s game that I’ve seen is his overall baseball IQ and the poise he’s demonstrated, especially as he struggled through the early part of the season. He’s an outstanding baserunner, he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes out there, and again, he’s an elite defender. All of those attributes on a contender make him an asset going forward, something you really never know about until you see it evolve in real time. We have seen countless highly touted prospects come and go around here over the years, but as I said before, this is the first one I’ve seen since Alonso that is catching my direct attention.
Benge is offering hope in what is a dire situation for the Mets this season.
Speaking of contenders, or contending…
I am a long way from buying into these Mets. Yeah, they’re just five games out of a wild card spot even with a lot of teams in front of them, and yeah, there are about 100 or so games left to figure all of this out. There are great signs from Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien, Juan Soto can carry this offense, and Francisco Lindor could be back sooner rather than later, which would be a huge win considering what that calf injury looked like when he went down on April 22. And sure, the bullpen is strong enough.
But, there are a lot of issues the Mets have to solve, not the least of which is getting through this June gauntlet well over .500, and figuring out how to get production out of at least two infield positions in the process while assuming Semien and Bichette can continue to carry their weight. And, we haven’t even talked about the starting rotation, which is its own problem that lacks both consistency and depth.
I mean, right now, Christian Scott, who hasn’t really pitched a lot over the last two years, is their best and most reliable starter. He has been great, no question about it. But, it’s unrealistic to ask him to carry the rotation the way he has over the last month or so, as great as he’s been.
The first step for this club will be to get back to .500. We have been saying that over and over again since that 12-game losing streak earlier in the year. And, given who is on the active roster right now, 19-15 since May 1 probably seems like an overachievement given the general underperformance from their highly paid middle infielders.
And unfortunately for the Mets, a 19-15 pace after being so deep in the tank probably won’t be enough for them.
But again, their star shortstop is getting closer. He should help, assuming those mental and physical lapses he had throughout April are a thing of the past. His return will bump one of Brett Baty or Mark Vientos in all probability (I am thinking Vientos, because he is among the worst values in the sport and is hardly playing anymore), and boost the overall production of the infield offensively and defensively. I’d expect the Mets to re-install Bichette at third and then Baty would be in some kind of mix at first base again, since there’s really no other place for the Mets to put Bichette anyway.
From there, we will see. The 19-15 record has likely punted the Mets’ decision on being a buyer or seller ahead of the trade deadline down the calendar a bit, as has the good news on the injury front to both Lindor and Francisco Álvarez.
The playoff format helps that as well, but when they’re back, the club is going to have to quickly re-position themselves in the standings in order for them to be a buyer this summer.
Around the League 🚩
The Braves rallied for three runs in the seventh to finish off a sweep of the Pirates with a 3-2 win
Jacob deGrom fired six scoreless innings as the Rangers blew away the Guardians 10-0
The Phillies overcame another rocky start from Aaron Nola to win a 9-5 slugfest over the White Sox and improve to 35-30 on the year
Homers from Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the eighth inning powered the Yankees to a 6-1 win over the Red Sox
I've thought highly of Melendez. He's an athlete....like the ones Atlanta has. The kind that can make an amazing catch in one inning & hit a Homer in the next.
As Stevie Winwood sang, who knows what tomorrow may bring! Let's go Mets! Hey maybe Juan, Carson and Nolan might be invited and seated in Celebrity Row at MSG for the top event in the Universe tonight!