Carson Benge hit .366 this spring, and the NY Mets should have no reason to send him down

Carson Benge finished the NY Mets Grapefruit League schedule hitting .366 with a .435 OBP, 5 RBI, and a stolen base. He did all of that and walked off the field Sunday not knowing if he made the team. The Mets haven’t told him yet.

At this point, not putting him on the Opening Day roster would be the decision that needs explaining.

What the Numbers Actually Say

A .366 average is easy to wave off in isolation. Spring pitching is inconsistent, competition varies, and sample sizes are small. But Benge’s spring wasn’t built on soft contact against B-squad arms. The .435 OBP is the number that matters more, because it tells you how he was getting there.

He worked counts. He took pitches the other way. He looked the part defensively in right field. The Mets came into camp wanting to see whether Benge could handle the day-to-day of a big league environment, and he answered every version of that question. The .366 is what happened. The process behind it is why it holds up.

He also hit a home run in an exhibition game against Team Israel, which didn’t hurt.

The Roster Math

The door for Benge opened wider when Mike Tauchman went down with a torn meniscus requiring surgery. That’s not a knock on Benge — it’s context. With Tauchman out, all signs point toward Benge not only making the club but starting Thursday against Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes on Opening Day. That’s a different conversation than penciling him in as a depth piece.

He’s 23 years old and came into camp as the top outfield prospect in the organization. He did everything asked of him and then some. The Mets are not being asked to take a leap of faith here. The spring gave them a clean answer.

After Sunday’s finale, Benge told reporters he still hadn’t heard anything. “Still waiting,” he said, with a smile. He handled the uncertainty the same way he handled everything else this spring — without flinching.

“I’m happy that I carried myself in a very good way and I showed everyone what kind of person I am,” Benge said, per SNY. “I feel like that spoke the loudest for me.”

The Mets pack up and head back to New York for an intra-squad scrimmage Monday before Thursday’s opener at Citi Field. If Benge is in that lineup against Skenes, nobody who watched this spring should be surprised. The question worth asking now is what it would take for the Mets to justify any other outcome.