{"id":593397,"date":"2026-02-26T04:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T04:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/593397\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T04:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T04:39:16","slug":"mets-carson-benge-shows-off-ability-to-stay-in-the-fight-in-big-day-at-plate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/593397\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets&#8217; Carson Benge shows off ability to &#8216;stay in the fight&#8217; in big day at plate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Panic had not yet set in at Clover Park, but knowing these parts, if Carson Benge had too many more hitless games, there would have been some red flags.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/24\/sports\/mets-carson-benge-and-darryl-strawberry-share-a-surprising-connection\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Benge eased any potential early concerns<\/a> with a three-hit day in Wednesday\u2019s 6-0 loss to the Cardinals, reaching on an infield hit, an opposite-field single and a grounder through the left side of the infield.<\/p>\n<p>Each hit came with two strikes \u2014 a fact Benge seemed as pleased with as the results.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hate striking out,\u201d Benge said. \u201cThat\u2019s one thing about me. So being able to fight for every pitch, scrap for it, is really big.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And could be just as big for the Mets, who have made no secret that the 23-year-old Benge is in the mix to win the starting job in right field this spring.<\/p>\n<p>Despite having played just 24 games at the Triple-A level, the Mets think enough of Benge\u2019s skill set that they\u2019re giving him a chance to be in Queens next month. He just has to take it.<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday\u2019s performance at the plate showed why, putting up three tough at-bats and drilling his second hit 101 mph.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38607296\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260225_MetsCardinals_CS028.jpg\" alt=\"New York Mets outfielder Carson Benge hits a single in the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals during Spring Training at Clover Field, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Port St. Lucie\" class=\"wp-image-38607296\"  \/>New York Mets outfielder Carson Benge hits a single in the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals during Spring Training at Clover Field, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Port St. Lucie. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ability to stay in the fight, especially when he gets behind in counts,\u2019\u2019 Carlos Mendoza said when asked what stood out about Benge. \u201cFouling off pitches, using the whole field [and] putting the ball in play. He just finds a way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While he\u2019s fighting for a job, Benge said he\u2019s trying to take advantage of every part of the opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust soaking up every bit of information I can from veteran guys around here,\u2019\u2019 Benge said of his experience in major league camp. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m getting adjusted day by day, seeing what it takes [and] seeing how good they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And although it\u2019s hard to count on too many more 3-for-3 afternoons, Benge is confident his bat-to-ball skills will only help his game.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38607297\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260225_MetsCardinals_CS027.jpg\" alt=\"New York Mets outfielder Carson Benge is at bat in the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals during Spring Training at Clover Field, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Port St. Lucie\" class=\"wp-image-38607297\"  \/>New York Mets outfielder Carson Benge is at bat in the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel that sprouted from me not liking to strike out,\u2019\u2019 Benge said. \u201cI\u2019d do anything not to strike out. Just put the ball in play.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So while some in the game disregard the number of whiffs they pile up, as long as the production is there, Benge has a different mindset.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI try to go out there and fight every at-bat and not give anything away with a dumb swing,\u2019\u2019 Benge said.<\/p>\n<p>Francisco Lindor continues to progress in his recovery from the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/11\/sports\/francisco-lindor-opts-for-hand-surgery-in-crushing-early-mets-blow\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hand surgery he underwent<\/a> Feb. 11, with the stitches removed Tuesday and \u201cimpact\u201d drills expected to begin within the next few days, according to Mendoza.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo far, it\u2019s been good,\u2019\u2019 the manager said.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>If all goes well, the shortstop could also start hitting in two weeks as he recovers from the stress reaction in his left hamate bone, seemingly putting him in position to be ready for Opening Day.<\/p>\n<p>Brett Baty, slowed by hamstring discomfort, is scheduled to play first base by this weekend, according to Mendoza. \u2026 Vidal Bruj\u00e1n, who left Monday\u2019s game after getting spiked in his left thumb while stealing second, returned to the lineup Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Additional reporting\u00a0by Mike Puma\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Panic had not yet set in at Clover Park, but knowing these parts, if&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,5805,227,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,185,151],"class_list":{"0":"post-593397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-carson-benge","10":"tag-francisco-lindor","11":"tag-mets","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-mets","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkmets","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-spring-training"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116135091977918261","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}