For a Mets season that has gone sideways in a hundred different ways, Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing have given the club something it badly needed: two rookies who look like they belong.
That’s not just a feel-good line. The numbers back it up.
Among the 113 rookies who have collected a hit in 2026, Benge sits sixth with 79, while Ewing is 25th with 41. Benge has 21 extra-base hits and 11 stolen bases.
Ewing has 12 extra-base hits and eight steals. Both have held their own defensively in the outfield, and both arrived with plenty of pedigree, ranked No. 2 and No. 6, respectively, on the Amazin’ Avenue Prospect List.
Benge’s path to the roster was on the radar before the season even started. David Stearns had mentioned him during his post-season press conference in 2025 as a possible Opening Day option, and the Mets ultimately gave him the job after spring training. He announced himself right away with a homer on Opening Day, then hit a rough patch that included defensive blunders and a batting average that dipped under .200 until May 6.
Since then, though, he’s been steady. On June 6, Benge’s average peaked at .265 for the season, and it hasn’t fallen more than 12 points since. He’s hovered around .257 and has piled up 1.4 bWAR, which ranks fifth on the team behind Juan Soto, Clay Holmes, Huascar Brazobán, and Luke Weaver.
What stands out most is how settled he looks. Benge is still learning, sure, but after he found his footing, he hasn’t really had a stretch where he looked overwhelmed at the plate. Since May 13, he has posted a better batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage than Bo Bichette, a former All-Star making $42 million a year.
That comparison isn’t about predicting the rest of the season. It’s about measuring how well Benge has adapted. Bichette is in the coldest stretch of his career, and nobody would have reasonably expected Benge to be outproducing him at this point in the year.
Ewing arrived a bit later, but his impact has been just as real, even if it’s shown up differently. His biggest value has come in the field, where he’s been flashy at times and, more often, simply dependable. He has one defensive run saved and one out above average, but the more important part is the way he looks like he’s supposed to be there.
At the plate, Ewing has been more consistent than Benge was early on. His .275/.363/.416 slash line has held fairly steady, and his slugging has climbed since mid-June.
He has produced 1.2 bWAR, just behind Benge and also good for fifth on the club. Like plenty of rookies, and plenty of regulars too, he can run into strikeouts, but he doesn’t look like he’s always swinging for a three-run miracle.
Both he and Benge can get amped up, but both also show a calm that doesn’t fit their age.
Even if the rest of the year turns rocky, the Mets have already gotten something meaningful out of these two. The picture gets more complicated when Tyrone Taylor, Luis Robert Jr. and Jorge Polanco come back. Polanco will likely need the DH spot, which would push Soto into the field, while Robert and Taylor would each crowd the other with the younger outfielders already in place.
Still, the reality seems clear now: Benge and Ewing aren’t just options for later. They’re part of the Mets right now. It’s too early to start tossing around David Wright and José Reyes comparisons, but it has been a long time since two Mets position-player rookies came up together with this kind of two-way ability and this kind of chance to stick side by side for a while.
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