What a Benge
Morning Dose: Tuesday, March 24
☀️ Good Morning:
Two more sleeps!
I’ve been spending most of my time over the past few weeks preparing for some new features this season. Thanks to those who have been helping me with beta testing. I will be unveiling the biggest new product tomorrow.
On to the update.
❶ Carson Benge learns what we already knew.
❷ Craig Kimbrel plans to stick around (for now).
❸ Re-live the 1986 Mets throughout the season.
And stay for the final outs for some interesting notes.
📰 ABOVE THE FOLD
❶ WHAT A BENGE
Like waiting for Santa to come down the chimney, this baby Met had to play it cool until the inevitable special moment arrived.
Carson Benge is starting the season in the majors. He will play right field.
It’s official, official.
The 23-year-old, ranked by many evaluators as the organization’s best positional prospect, made it impossible for the Mets to cut him. He batted .366 over 14 Grapefruit League games, earning the nickname in this newsletter, Carson Daily, for his habit of recording a knock, often times with two strikes.
⇢ Rookie Mets: If it feels like we haven’t often seen many rookie positional players on the Opening Day roster, that’s because we really haven’t. Lost friend Pete Alonso is the last to win a job out of camp. And he is one of only 11 true Mets rookies who have stepped to the plate at least 40 times during the season’s first month. Francisco Álvarez technically debuted at the end of the 2022 season before making an impact early in 2023.
⇢ Quick Ascent: Not only is it rare for a rookie to win the Opening Day job, for Benge, he does so after playing in only 56 games above High-A: 32 in AA and 24 in Triple-A.
