CARSON BENGE
With the 2025 draft happening in July, it is great to look back and see that last year’s Mets first rounder, Carson Benge, is doing extremely well.
Let me break it down.
CONSISTENCY: you see some prospects who get very hot for a while, and then get cold, and you wonder how much the pitchers are adapting well to them, and you have to lower your expectations for them. Well, Carson has been remarkably consistent this year. Close to or above a .300 batting average each month this year. And hot in July.
SPEED: Thru Wednesday of this week, Carson had stolen 17 of 19 bases. Reminiscent of Carlos Beltrán, who didn’t steal a ton of bases, but was extremely successful when he tried.
A GUN FOR AN ARM: Carson was being considered as a pitcher as well as a hitter, and smartly dropped the pitching. He was clocked at 96 miles an hour, so he has a heck of an arm from the outfield. That is a big plus.
HE WALKS A LOT: Simply said, some prospects strike out a lot, and don’t walk much. Benge however walks quite a bit. That is important when you get to the big leagues, The strike out prone become fishermen in the big leagues.
HIS AA POST-PROMOTION STATS ARE STRONG: Then his first 12 games in AA, NO ADJUSTMENT. NECESSARY. HE was hitting .325/.450/.560.
HE DOES NOT STRIKE OUT A LOT: Sometimes, guys see their strikeouts spike when they jump from one level to another. Carson, in his first 50 plate appearances in AA, fanned just seven times. Can I say WOW.
HE ONLY HAS SIX HOME RUNS: but, he hit very well in lefty-retardant Brooklyn, which is hell for lefties. I expect to see more power from him going forward. Remember, Ryan Clifford last year, also a lefty, was neutered by Brooklyn and its winds, and then started pounding plenty of home runs when he got to Binghamton. And 21 doubles and 5 triples in 76 games is sweet.
CONCLUSION:
Is he ready to be on the Mets right now? I doubt it. But what about OD 2026?
He still has another 60 or so games to go in the minors in 2025 to improve, and most likely he’ll be playing Arizona Fall ball and getting more at bats there. That adds up to the length of half of a major league season.
So for the reasons categorized above, it would be a fast promotion for him to be on the opening day 2026 Mets roster, yes, but I think he can’t be ruled out.
He may just be the fastest developing prospect hitter they’ve ever had.
TOP OF THE HEAP
Jonah Tong, through Wednesday, led all of the minor leagues with 125 Ks.
The next highest guy in all of the minor leagues had 111 Ks, so Tong has 13% more Ks than the second highest dude in the entire minors.
Impressive, huh?
Jack Wenninger was 8th with 100, and Nolan Ryan McLean was 17th with 95.
Considering there are 30 teams, to have 3 Mets arms in the top 17 is really something.
And 3 more in the top 100:
Also, Zach Thornton was 78th with 78, and RJ Gordon was 85th with 76. Jon Santucci was 95th with 75 Ks. (Zach went on the IL with an oblique after his June 28 start, or he’d have 2 more starts and would have placed much higher.)
Sproat? Tied for 204th with 57.
Channing Austin is ahead of Sproat in the high 100’s with 60.
Sensational reliever Anthony Nunez clocked in just behind them with 54 Ks in 33 IP.
WHIP? Thornton was THIRD at 0.81, and Tong 14th at 0.93.
ERA? Tong is 6th for qualifying guys, at 1.93. Thornton at 1.98. Jace Hampson has an ERA of 1.80 after 35 innings.
Anthony Nunez (1.34, 0.73) in relief beats them all.
FUN AND CONTRASTS IN THE DSL
On Friday, one of the DSL Mets teams left 17 men on base - bad?
No - they won 12-10 in 10 innings. Mighty Yorber Semprun, up 7 times, had 5 hits (.381) for the Mets, who had 17 hits, 10 walks, and 3 hit batsmen. Teammate Yensi Rivas (.303) had 4 hits in his 6 trips.
The other DSL game was quite the opposite - 0-0 after 7 innings, just one hit apiece by each team, and then they punched out 2 hits and 2 runs bottom 8 to win 2-1.
THE LVP?
Is Mark Vientos in the running for Least Valuable Player?
I thought pre-season that this would be the Mets’ most potent offense EVER. What I expected was that with Soto, Alonso, Lindor, and Nimmo anchoring the line up, that foursome would take pressure off of Alvarez and Vientos, and those two would thrive, but that theory proved unrealistic.
Alvarez hurt his hamate, returned and failed to hit as expected. And got demoted. No one saw That coming when spring training began.
But Vientos? No speed, spotty fielder, and EXTREMELY UN-CLUTCH.
This year, with runners in scoring position? He is hitting a Koosman-like .123 (7 for 57) through Thursday.
In his last 50 at bats, he is 7 for 50, with ZERO walks and 19 Ks!
In game 2 of the doubleheader on Thursday, he came up with 1 on and one out, took a hittable, called strike one fastball, swung at a ball out of the zone for strike two, and then fanned on a nasty splitter dropping well out of the strike zone….a pitcher’s pitch on a pitcher’s count that Mark aided and abetted by watching strike one, again. A poor at bat at an important moment.
A key contributor to the Mets’ losing ways of the last several weeks, during which (through Thursday), they have gone 8-17.
As always, tomorrow is another day. After an 0-3, 2 K start to his game on Friday, Vientos had 2 hits and 3 crucial RBIs in his final 2 at bats in the Mets’ come-from behind 8-3 win. Maybe the start of a hot streak? We’ve wondered that about Mark all season.
In the minors:
Jon Santucci had a great AA debut (6 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 8 K). He’s great.
Jett W smacked two HRs and a 3rd hit and a steal. Morabito 2 hits, and his 32nd steal.
As hard as it might be to believe, Kevin Parada (.242) is now hitting for a higher average than Ryan Clifford (.236)! What a supersonic rise.
Starting on May 15, he is 40 for 125 (.320) with 7 HRs and 24 RBIs, after starting out 10 for 82, with 1 HR and 4 RBIs.
My thoughts? It warmed up, then he heated up. Bravo.
I guess now that Parada has DOUBLED his batting average since mid-May, he is back in the top prospect picture?
His fellow catcher, Alvarez, hit his 5th AAA HR - but is hitting just .193.
Dom Hamel, whom some hope might help the Mets’ pen, retired 5 batters without a walk - but allowed 4 hits, including 2 shots that left the yard. Pintaro walked 4 in 2.1 IP.
Drew Gilbert, whom many wish will soon be promoted, is hitting for a.229 average. Nah. We already got a bunch of those in Queens.
St Lucie? Franklin Gomez, a lefty, was sharp, allowing 1 hit over 4 innings.
His reliever, Irving Cota, allowed 5 hits and 2 walks in retiring 10 batters - but fanned NINE OF THE TEN.
In Brooklyn, Tom Glavine’s son Peyton pitched a scoreless frame and got the win. Yes, he is a lefty - but has amassed just 61 pro innings (4-0) by age 26.
Boston Baro (.222) had 3 hits, while the rest of the dormant Brooklynites compiled 2 hits.
Have a nice day. And remember, swing at the first strike, fellas.
11 comments:
I have never undersood why so many Major Leaguers take the first pitch fastball. That usually turns out to be the best pitch they get to hit. Why not go up there looking first pitch fastball in a certain spot and swing away.
Les, it befuddles me. I wrote recently that if Vientos got up 600 times, and swang at the first pitch as much as Crow and Rooker, he would swing at 120 more first pitches than at his current rate. 120.
I wasn't in organized ball, but when I played, I lead.off and my job first tome up was to time the first pitch and possibly shock them with a drag.bunt
Re Benge
He isn't a prime beef prospect that ever projected as a graduate to the Bigs this early
You want to do this?
Send him to Syracuse yesterday
*time
Benge? I’d wait a few more weeks. He should be in Syracuse by August 1, in my opinion. Conforto played half of his 91 games in Binghamton in his first full year, hit .318. Maybe not promoted because he missed 30+ games. Hit .422 in 33 games the next year in Vegas and called up. Benge called up May 1, 2026, similarly?
And look how great Conforto is
Yeah, Conforto has aged out quickly. I think it is injuries. He started out good, had the soph jinx the next year, then was above average in 2017 thru 2020, but injuries started in 2021. And he dropped a few notches. This year, the wheels have really come off at age 32.
This is why organizational depth is so important
Agreed. Often, the few good developed players breakdown.
Then you let guys like .313 Mangum get away, to protect some .190 guy.
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