Carson Benge and Spencer Jones have both spent the season proving the same point in different uniforms: young hitters can get a quick lesson from big league pitching and still come out sharper on the other side.
Benge, 23, has cleaned up the biggest flaw that showed up when Tom Verducci first saw him in the opening month of the season. Early on, the swing had too much head movement, which made him inconsistent and left him with plenty of swing-and-miss. He has since made a noticeable in-season adjustment by closing his stance, setting up with his head closer to the plate and turning around his core instead of dipping forward toward the ball.
That change has given him a longer, more balanced swing built more for pulling the ball with power.
Mets manager Andy Green said the difference has been obvious.
“I think you’re right,” manager Andy Green says. “There was a lot of sway early in the season.
All the excess movement was making it hard to catch up to a good heater and to stay on spin. He’s cut that down pretty considerably.
Still taking an aggressive pass. He has the ability to hit all pitches to all fields, which is a unique attribute to have in a young guy.
He competes every day.
“There’s a lot of fisted, soft hits to the left side that I feel like is a beautiful thing of the past that not a lot of people in the exit velo revolution love so much. But it lights up the scoreboard. It gets a guy on base and helps us score runs.”
Benge’s value goes beyond the bat. He is a premier defender with an elite arm and plus speed, and he steals bases. He also has joined rare company, becoming part of the group of first-year players in NL history with 17 homers and 22 stolen bases, alongside the Mets’ plug-and-play version of Jackson Chourio of Milwaukee.
Jones has taken a different path, but the result has been just as striking. The 25-year-old Yankees outfielder has made a fast, meaningful adjustment against major league pitching after pitchers attacked him early with elite velocity at the top of the zone. With the highest tilt in his swing other than Riley Greene of Detroit, he was getting beat over and over by fastballs above his hands.
Then he adjusted, and the change has been hard to miss. Jones has massive bat speed, the kind that can cover for swing quirks, and his improvement against pitches 95 mph and faster has been dramatic.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone praised the way Jones has handled it.
“He’s not a deer in the headlights at all,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone says. “There’s a calm to him.
There’s an underlying confidence. Game to game he’s done a really good job of making little subtle adjustments.
He’s done a good job in the outfield. He’s got make-up speed.
The routes and stuff have been a point of emphasis for him and he’s getting better there. But overall I feel like he’s done a good job.”
Jones has done enough that he should stay in center field even after Trent Grisham returns from the IL. He has hit lefties better, with a .705 slug, reached base at a stronger clip and graded out better defensively.
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