Carson Benge has already made a habit of doing the things everyone expects from him. He can hit.
He can field. He can run.
None of that is the surprise anymore.
The surprise is this: Benge has become the Mets’ best ABS user.
In the new Automatic Ball-Strike Challenge system, the rookie has delivered 4.2 net overturns vs. expected in his favor, the top mark on the team this season. Juan Soto is next at 3.5, followed by Bo Bichette at 1.6. Across baseball, Benge’s number ranks 29th, which puts him in pretty rare air for something that depends as much on judgment as instinct.
That edge makes a little sense. Benge came up through the Minors with experience using ABS, unlike most of his teammates.
But knowing the system exists and knowing how to use it well are two different things. A.J.
Ewing, for example, has gone the other way entirely, sitting at -3.0 net overturns vs. expected, the lowest mark among Mets players.
Benge’s value hasn’t come from simply pressing the button more often. It’s been about picking the right moments and avoiding the bad ones.
He has challenged just nine pitches all season and won six of them. Even better, he hasn’t wrongly challenged a pitch in more than three months, going 5-0 since May 26.
That run has mattered. Two of those five overturns led to a walk, and one wiped out a strikeout, which means Benge has been cashing in on the kinds of calls that can swing an at-bat instead of just nibbling around the edges.
Statcast’s expected numbers back up the idea that he’s not just aggressive for the sake of it. The 23-year-old has tapped his head on 2.6% of challengeable pitches, below the 3.7% rate Statcast would expect from a player seeing the same pitches.
That doesn’t automatically mean he’s being passive. It suggests he’s often choosing not to challenge the pitches a player would be expected to challenge - and, in many cases, those are the ones that would have been mistakes.
That stands out even more when set against the Mets as a whole. New York batters have challenged 164 pitches this season, tied with the Yankees for the most in baseball.
Their 50% overturn rate is tied for 12th-best, which leaves them with plenty of wins, but also plenty of losses. The club has 82 overturns, fourth-most, and 82 lost challenges, third-most.
It’s a fairly reckless profile, and one the organization will likely keep refining as ABS strategy evolves.
For now, though, Benge is the exception. In a lineup that tends to reach for challenges, he’s been the one showing restraint.
There’s no trophy for that, and it won’t be the headline item on his resume. But it’s another reason his rookie season has looked so complete, and another small corner of the game where his value keeps showing up.
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Eduardo Nunez is among those who think Stafura could rise fast through the system, with the Mets manager saying the infielder has a chance to keep climbing quickly and even put himself in position for a big league debut as soon as next season. For a prospect still settling in with his new club, that kind of timetable raises the stakes immediately, especially for a player whose stock has climbed from local standout to someone the Mets are already talking about in the near future. [Read more 🡒]
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Jarred Kelenic May Need A Route Mets Fans Know Well
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For Mets fans, the relevant part of this story is the familiar comeback route that has worked for others. Jared Young found his way back to MLB after rebuilding his game in the Korean Baseball Organization, and that kind of reset may be the clearest path available now for Kelenic as he tries to rediscover the version of himself that made him such a coveted name in the first place. [Read more 🡒]