Over the past month, Carson Benge’s case has strengthened. Over the past 28 games entering play Sunday, the Mets outfielder carved out a place in the National League’s Rookie of the Year race with a .952 OPS and an NL-leading 38 hits.
Benge hasn’t thought about his name continuing to pop up in chatter surrounding the award, but “[I] definitely do want it,” he told The Post before the Mets (61-76) lost 6-3 to the Astros. If he won the honor, it’d make him the first Met to do so since Pete Alonso in 2019 and just the third rookie from the franchise this century to take it, joining Alonso and Jacob deGrom (2014). But he’ll need to surge past the other candidates, including the Cardinals’ JJ Wetherholt, the Reds’ Sal Stewart and the Mets’ Nolan McLean, and extend his own tear across the final month of the season.
“It’d be cool,” Benge said before going 0-for-4 as the Mets capped a six-game homestand at Citi Field. “There’s plenty of good rookies around the NL, with one being in our locker room and the conversation, too, but it’d be pretty cool to win it over all those guys.”
It’ll be challenging for Benge to separate from the field. Wetherholt, the St. Louis infielder who went on the injured list Sunday with right wrist tendinitis, has hit .242 with a .743 OPS and the sixth-best bWAR among NL position players (4.6). Stewart, 22, just became the first Reds rookie in franchise history to record a season with at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs, and he entered play Sunday with an MLB-leading 104 RBIs — one of two players in the league to hit the century mark.
And McLean, who stumbled early in the season, has collected a 1.76 ERA across his last 11 starts, with the most recent one unfolding Saturday when he allowed just two hits and an unearned run against the Astros.
But then there’s Benge, who has impressed with both his bat and his arm. He played his way onto the Opening Day roster with a strong spring training and then never lost his spot. He became the first Mets rookie since Darryl Strawberry in 1983 to have 15 homers and 15 stolen bases in the same season, and he sits at 16 homers and 54 RBIs for the year. Benge’s right arm has produced outfield assists clocked at 99.9 mph and 103.9 mph.
“I think [he] definitely belongs in the conversation right now with the guy who pitched last night for us,” interim manager Andy Green said Sunday of Benge and McLean. “I know there’s other good rookies throughout the game. I think Carson, throughout the year, shows the ability to bounce back from tough moments really well. Really talented hitter. Can hit any pitch at any time. Even as he goes through funks, he maintains like the right perspective and the right attitude and the right approach.
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“I think we knew that’s who he was. It’s great to see it play out on a big league field in the first season.”
Benge said he doesn’t think about what might allow him to stand out from others in contention for the award. He’ll let whoever votes judge that. He hasn’t talked to McLean, a teammate at Oklahoma State before their climb through the minors and to the Mets, about it either.
It might be tough to unseat Stewart, who has the numbers. It might be tough to topple Wetherholt, even if he misses chances to add to his stats while injured. But with his recent tear, Benge has at the very least entered the conversation, inching closer to something the 23-year-old said he thought was possible from when he first started working toward cracking the Mets roster back in spring training.
“I think if not,” Benge said of that thought, “I’m selling myself short. If you’re gonna try and come into the league and not do anything, be average to below average, I don’t think you’re doing it right.”
