Carson Benge: Gold Glove candidate?

Also, after a short delay, the Mets and Rockies resume their series tonight in snowy Denver

May 06, 2026

The Mets and Rockies were rained out yesterday; they will now play today and tomorrow, with no off-day before they head to Arizona

The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️

ICYMI: Get caught up on the latest ep of the Just Mets Podcast, in which Andrew and Rich recap all the hottest topics of this past non-losing week.

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Down on the Farm 🌾

1B Ryan Clifford (No. 4 prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 1 BB
DH Nick Morabito (No. 12 prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 K, 1 SB
SS Elian Peña (No. 8 prospect, Single-A): 1-for-5, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR, 2 K, 1 CS
RHP R.J. Gordon (No. 19 prospect, Single-A): 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
RF JT Benson (Single-A): 3-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 1 K
C Chase Meggers (Single-A): 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 1 K

BOX SCORES

Single-A SLU | High-A BRK (PPD) | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR

Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (13-22) at Rockies (14-22)

Where: Coors Field — Denver, CO

Starters: RHP Freddy Peralta (1-3, 3.52 ERA) vs. RHP Michael Lorenzen (2-3, 6.09 ERA)

When: 9:20 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

Could Carson Benge win a Gold Glove as a rookie? ✍️

The numbers don’t lie: Carson Benge is already one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball.

With just over 250 innings logged so far this season, Benge has started to look ever more like a big leaguer recently. Though his batting average still sits below .200, Benge has looked vastly improved at the plate in the last two weeks:

3/26-4/21: 20 G, .136/.219/.197, 1 2B, 1 HR, 6 R, 3 RBI, 7 BB, 18 K, .200 wOBA, 52.1% GB, 16.7% LD, 27.1% Pull-Side Contact, 37.5% Hard Contact, 23 wRC+
4/22-5/4: 11 G, .303/.361/.545, 2 2B, 2 HR, 6 R, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 6 K, .396 wOBA, 37.0% GB, 29.6% LD, 44.4% Pull-Side Contact, 40.7% Hard Contact, 156 wRC+

However, while his bat may have taken time to come around, his glove has never been an issue — it just so happens to also look its best as of late.

In the last week-plus, Benge has made several highlight-reel plays that have helped catapult him to the top of the league’s defensive leaderboards.

On April 24th, he made this catch against the Rockies:

Then, on April 29th, he ran down this fly ball against the Nationals:

He followed that up with two snags on Sunday — a play on a wall-scraper to right-center field, and, of course, the ‘pulchritudinous’ diving play:

And finally, on Monday, he contributed his most recent extra-base robbery to his highlight reel:

On paper, Benge’s play in the field has translated into some top-of-class defensive metrics. Though his Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) sits at a league-average 0, among outfielders with at least 250 innings, Benge’s +4 Outs Above Average (OAA) ranks second in the National League behind only Pete Crow-Armstrong; his +3 Fielding Run Value (FRV, a recent standard for overall defensive evaluation) ranks third in the NL, behind PCA and Andy Pages. Not too shabby.

All of the above, of course, naturally begs the question: Should he already be on Gold Glove watch?

Until recently, there wasn’t a ton of precedent for youngsters taking home the trophy. Before 2013, only nine rookies had won Gold Gloves — there have been 10 rookie winners since then, seven of them in the last four years. Since 2023, four rookies have been honored with the hardware: Brenton Doyle, Anthony Volpe, Wilyer Abreu, and Javier Sanoja; 2022 saw three rookie award recipients alone (Steven Kwan, Jeremy Peña, Brendan Donovan).

In a sense, Benge’s timing couldn’t be better.

Now, it’s important to remember that it can take up to an entire season for defensive stats to stabilize, and scores can be fairly volatile as years and positions change (see Luis Arráez). There are also always age and park factors to consider, so a 23-year-old rookie’s range metrics and those of, say, a guy in his early 30s are only so comparable. But so far, Benge’s numbers have matched the eye test, and while he’s only 30 games into his career, his ability to provide this level of value in the field despite starting so cold at the plate speaks strongly to his confidence as a ballplayer.

While the basic numbers are impressive enough on their own, it should also be acknowledged that Benge is doing this across all outfield positions. PCA and Pages both exclusively patrol center field; Benge has consistently provided neutral-to-positive defensive value at all outfield positions, which isn’t always the case.

In 2019, Sports Info Solutions looked at how DRS is affected by positional shifts from center field to a corner spot. The results were mostly as expected: defenders moving from center to the corners fared overall better in their new role, whereas corner defenders who moved to center field fared far worse, and defenders moving corner to corner saw virtually no change in performance.

However, while the names in SIS’s study are vets making (mostly) single-position switches, Benge has stayed steady as a rookie who’s done nothing but bounce across three positions. When comparing Benge to the other recent rookie Gold Glove outfielders, only Steven Kwan spent considerable time at multiple positions when he won the award, with the vast majority of his innings still spent in the left corner by year’s end. Though it’s early in the context of both his rookie campaign and his big league career, and he’ll likely settle into more of a permanent position as this season rolls on, it’s safe to say that what he’s doing right now isn’t exactly par for the course at his age.

Barring injury, there’s no reason to believe Benge’s glove won’t stay this solid; landing even semi-permanently in right field upon the return of Robert could likely end up significantly benefiting Benge both physically and analytically. Undoubtedly, other veteran gloves will surge up the defensive leaderboards and make their own compelling cases to add some gold to their trophy cases — Fernando Tatis, Jr. and Michael Harris II rank ahead of Benge in the NL in OAA and FRV with even fewer innings played. Still, if Benge continues on this pace, Mets fans could be in store for a special, elite season in this specific category.

Whether he winds up with some gilded leather or not, Benge currently looks to be as stout a full-time outfield defender as the Mets have had in years. With the way things have been going, that’s a massive franchise W, even if his bat doesn’t play all the way up to its potential.

But should his recent offensive resurgence stick? Well, that would be pulchritudinous, indeed.

Around the League 🚩

Tigers’ starter Framber Valdez was ejected after presumably throwing at Red Sox SS Trevor Story in frustration during a 10-run, three-inning outing (MLB.com)
Carlos Correa suffered a serious ankle injury while taking swings in the cage and could miss months of playing time (MLB.com)
Bryce Elder helped the Braves secure their league-leading 26th win, allowing just two runs against nine strikeouts in his six innings of work
Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez struck out 10 A’s over eight scoreless innings
Reds closer Emilio Pagán left the mound with a hamstring injury just one pitch into Tuesday’s appearance against the Cubs; he’s expected to hit the IL
Peter Lambert bested Shohei Ohtani in a pitcher’s duel as the Astros shut down the Dodgers

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