{"id":114765,"date":"2026-02-26T13:50:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=114765"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:50:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:50:06","slug":"i-hate-striking-out-mets-top-position-prospects-mentality-stands-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/26\/i-hate-striking-out-mets-top-position-prospects-mentality-stands-out\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I Hate Striking Out\u2019: Mets\u2019 Top Position Prospect\u2019s Mentality Stands Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just a day after Mike Tauchman<\/a> blasted a three-run home run in his first at-bat \u2014 who is among the top options to start in right field on Opening Day<\/a> \u2014 Mets’ top position prospect Carson Benge<\/a> responded in a very positive way.<\/p>\n

After going 0-for-5 to begin his spring, Benge racked up three hits on Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 6-0 loss. Each at-bat, Benge fell behind in the count 1-2. It didn’t matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“The ability to stay in the fight, especially when he gets behind in counts,” manager Carlos Mendoza<\/a> said. “Fouling off pitches, using the whole field [and] putting the ball in play. He just finds a way.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Benge did just that, with an infield hit, an opposite-field single, which clocked in at 101.2 mph, and a grounder through the right-side of the infield. His third at-bat of the game was a good example of what Benge is all about at the plate. The left-handed hitter worked a 10-pitch at-bat. After falling behind 1-2, then taking a ball to even the count, Benge fouled off the next four pitches to stay alive. He took another ball before hitting a sinker for his third knock of the day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“I hate striking out,” Benge said. “That’s one thing about me. So being able to fight for every pitch, scrap for it, is really big.”<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

Benge Taking Advantage of Golden Opportunity<\/h4>\n

Since being notified that he would be invited to MLB spring training<\/a>, Benge has taken advantage of the opportunity.<\/p>\n

“Just soaking up every bit of information I can from veteran guys around here,\u2019\u2019 Benge said of his experience in major league camp. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m getting adjusted day by day, seeing what it takes [and] seeing how good they are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Benge, the edge doesn\u2019t come from trying to hit the ball 450 feet \u2014 it comes from refusing to give an at-bat away.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that sprouted from me not liking to strike out,\u2019\u2019 Benge said. \u201cI\u2019d do anything not to strike out. Just put the ball in play.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI try to go out there and fight every at-bat and not give anything away with a dumb swing,\u2019\u2019 Benge said.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just a day after Mike Tauchman blasted a three-run home run in his first at-bat \u2014 who is among the top options to start in right field on Opening Day \u2014 Mets’ top position prospect Carson Benge responded in a very positive way. After going 0-for-5 to begin his spring, Benge racked up three hits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5706,"featured_media":114392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,22,35],"tags":[4683,28635,2759,1308],"class_list":["post-114765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-mets","category-news","tag-carlos-mendoza","tag-carson-benge","tag-mike-tauchman","tag-mlb-prospects"],"modified_by":"Augustus Oswald, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5706"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114765"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114780,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114765\/revisions\/114780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}