What should the Mets do with Carson Benge?

For top prospects, success in the majors is hardly guaranteed. It rarely comes right away and even if it does, there’s no guarantee that it will last. For every Pete Alonso you can name that came up and had immediate success and didn’t stumble later, I can name five players whose path was completely different than that.

There was Francisco Alvarez, who hit 25 HR in 2023 then combined to hit just 22 the next two seasons, with the latter year having a trip to the minors. There’s Brett Baty, who in his first three partial seasons in the majors combined for a 70 OPS+ in 602 PA. There’s Michael Conforto, who had immediate success upon his promotion in 2015, only to find himself busted to the minors in 2016. There’s Ronny Mauricio, with an 84 OPS+ in 292 PA, hoping another chance comes his way. There’s Mark Vientos, who had a 68 OPS+ in his first two stints in the majors and then who broke out with 134 OPS+, only to post a 97 OPS+ the following year.

Which brings us to Carson Benge.

The Mets so wanted Benge to come up and be productive right away. They traded an outfielder to clear a spot for him and then the PoBO announced that he had a chance to earn a roster spot in Spring Training. Who says that if they don’t want the guy to succeed? And Benge did have a good Grapefruit League season, even if it was all due to an unsustainable BABIP.

On Opening Day, Benge went 1-3 with a homer and two walks. But it’s been all downhill from there. Since that first game, Benge is 2-27 with 9 Ks. With two strikeouts on Opening Day, Benge has a 32.4 K% so far in his MLB career. It’s tough to succeed with a strikeout rate that high. It’s made even tougher with 1 XBH in 34 PA. Throw in a .111 BABIP and you have the ultimate cocktail for lousy results.

David Stearns and the front office need to look themselves in the mirror. Do they want to risk the confidence of a top prospect by sending him to the minors after 34 PA? Do they want to give him 50 more PA only to watch him dig a deeper hole? What’s best for the player? What’s best for the team? There are no easy answers here.

And the thing is, the Mets did it to themselves by promoting Benge to the majors without any extended track record of success at Triple-A. It didn’t work with Luisangel Acuna and it didn’t work with Baty, either. You can say that the injury to Mike Tauchman forced their hand. My opinion is that they were already going to give Benge the job and bring him north. Therefore, Tauchman’s injury provided the opportunity to Jared Young, not Benge.

Meanwhile, Young looked competent in 2025, when he didn’t hit for a high average but he clubbed 4 HR in 47 PA. And he’s hit well in limited playing time here in 2026, including a three-hit game on Sunday. And Young right now may play a part in the decision to keep or option Benge. There’s no obvious RF solution in the org right now. None of the outfielders at Syracuse are off to a good start and if you’re going to send Benge to the minors because he hasn’t had any Triple-A success, you can’t really call up a guy from Double-A.

Can Baty and Young cover right field in place of Benge? And what if Juan Soto’s calf injury lingers? Do you want those two, plus Tyrone Taylor, manning two outfield spots every game? Young had an outfield assist on Sunday and neither he nor Baty have looked out of place in the outfield, despite their lack of playing time there.

Still, when the mantra all offseason was about run prevention, how does it look to have two inexperienced outfielders, along with two infielders playing out of position?

Again, this is not an easy decision. The one good thing is that Benge’s poor start hasn’t really hamstrung the club, as they’re a solid 6-4 after playing seven road games, including four on the West Coast. That means they don’t have to make a move because the club is struggling and needs a jump start. Instead, they can weigh all the pros and cons and make (hopefully) a rational decision.

In my opinion, given his struggles in a brief appearance at Triple-A in 2025, it was a mistake to bring Benge north right off the bat. By doing that, the Mets were essentially throwing Benge to the wolves known as MLB pitchers. Benge certainly doesn’t look scared of the moment, or the wolves. Unfortunately, pitchers are having their way with him right now.

Keith Hernandez and Mickey Mantle were both sent to the minors in their rookie season and their careers turned out okay. It’s my take that Benge should be sent to Syracuse, where hopefully he can work on that awful strikeout rate and get back to hitting for some power. It’s great to look the part of an MLB player. Yet it’s even better to hit like a major leaguer. And Benge simply hasn’t done that here in the early going.