Roger Rubin: Mets' Carson Benge making a case for NL Rookie of the Year
Mets rightfielder Carson Benge runs to the dugout against the Milwaukee Brewers during the third inning at Citi Field on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
If you’re the type that believes it’s better to focus on the silver linings than the darkness of the clouds in front, we offer the blossoming candidacy of the Mets’ Carson Benge to the 2026 National League Rookie of the Year race.
Plenty of people could focus on the myriad things that have gone wrong for these Mets that were forecasted to be a contender.
There was the 12-game April losing streak. Superstars Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto have both missed more than 40 games apiece to injuries. Veterans acquired underperformed and returning players didn’t play to their averages.
And then there is Benge, who has shaken off a poor March and April and is having a smoldering hot August that’s helped the Mets finally win consistently — albeit too late. A 3-2 extra-inning win over the NL Central-leading Brewers Tuesday night at Citi Field moved the team to 13-6 since holding a fire sale at the trading deadline.
Over that span, Benge has not only slashed .358/.403/.642 with five home runs and 12 RBIs — entering Tuesday — but he has also been spectacular on defense, throwing out multiple runners on the basepaths.
Benge, who went 3-for-4 Tuesday, was walked intentionally with one out in the tenth, two batters before Lindor scored the game-winning run on a throwing error by Brewers third baseman David Hamilton.
“I wish they’d pitched to Carson,” interim manager Andy Green said. “Just a really good contact hitter with a runner on second and a base open in the tenth. I get what they were thinking on that side, but it is a little bit of a declaration to the league that this guy is a really good hitter.”
No reasonable observer could have had a glimmer of hope that Benge might get in the conversation for NL Rookie of the Year as May dawned. His slash line was .189/.247/.278. But since May 1, it was .298/.358/.463, entering Tuesday.
He absolutely belongs in the conversation now. And with 30 games left, that conversation is happening. And he sounds like a guy who likes it.
“You know, it’s pretty cool to be recognized with all the best rookies in the league and to be up there with them and in that same conversation, and potentially being able to win it,” Benge told Newsday.
“But I am more focused where my feet are. I’m going to take it one game at a time, go out there and compete and just play my butt off.”
One could also see Mets righthander Nolan McLean getting into the conversation as he makes his final 5-6 starts. He is 9-8 with a 3.21 ERA and has a 1.97 ERA over his past 10 starts.
Benge is certainly not the odds-on favorite to win. Cincinnati first baseman Sal Stewart had 27 home runs and 98 RBIs, entering Tuesday. St. Louis second baseman JJ Weatherholt had 17 home runs and 48 RBIs and is favored by those who entrust advanced metrics that factor in his great defense at a premium position.
But the person with the biggest number in one category or another doesn’t always win. A recent example is Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin, the 2025 winner. He didn’t have the most home runs or the highest batting average.
And sometimes voters — two in every one of that league’s markets — go for a more well-rounded candidate. When Randy Arozarena won the AL award with Tampa Bay in 2021, he didn’t lead vote-getters in batting average, home runs or RBIs, but he was a 20-20 guy. And Benge is tracking toward being a 20-20 player this season (he’s at 16 homers and 19 steals).
“Well-rounded players that impact every part of the game are what every manager wants and you want that every single time,” Green said.
“Carson has been that. And when you look at where he’s come from [at] the start of the year to where he is now, it’s been fun to watch him take steps forward.”
Green said he believes there is a “legit case for both” Benge and McLean, but added “However the public sees it, that’s up to them.”
The last Mets player to win the NL Rookie of the Year was Pete Alonso in 2019, but the award now includes a special bonus for the team that produces the winner. The current collective bargaining agreement includes a “Prospect Promotion Initiative” to incentivize teams to call up top prospects as early as possible. If Benge [or McLean] were to win, the Mets would get an extra draft pick after the first round is complete.
Often we’ve seen that a player who stands on the precipice of a milestone or award can try a little too hard and be thrown off his game. But Green said, “It would affect the rest of us — it doesn’t affect [Benge].”
The outfielder seems to be taking the notion that he could continue this late push in stride.
“Listen, it’s baseball,” he said. “You know, it could look very different at the end of the year — for better or for worse.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
