NEW YORK -- No surprise here: Carson Benge is a National League Rookie of the Year finalist. The only question is whether he achieved enough in September to win it.
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Monday named Benge a finalist for the award alongside Cincinnati’s Sal Stewart and St. Louis’ JJ Wetherholt. That means those three were the top vote-getters in the NL. BBWAA members across the country voted on the award before the start of postseason play.
Entering September, Benge seemed like a long shot to top Stewart, who wound up with 32 homers and 112 RBIs. Only 15 rookies in Major League history have gone 30-100 in those categories, and the last eight of them before Stewart -- a group that includes Pete Alonso, Aaron Judge, Albert Pujols and Mike Piazza -- all won Rookie of the Year.
Not only did Stewart stumble in late September, however, but voters’ attitudes have changed in recent decades, resulting in awards that align more closely with advanced metrics. In those areas, Benge shined. In addition to becoming the first Mets rookie to steal 20 bases and hit 20 home runs, Benge joined Alonso as the only ones to record at least 4.0 bWAR. He finished with 4.3, just behind Wetherholt (4.5) for the NL rookie lead.
After making the Mets’ Opening Day roster on the basis of a standout spring, Benge endured a difficult first five weeks of his career that saw him wake up with a .498 OPS on the morning of May 3. From that point forward, Benge broke out and never really struggled again, slashing .302/.366/.462 with 20 doubles, 18 homers and 16 steals. That included six multihit efforts in his last nine games, which allowed him to tighten the race with Stewart.
“It’s well-rounded,” Mets manager Andy Green said of Benge’s season. “I think when you look at what he’s done offensively, what he’s done defensively … you put all that together and add in the bases, he’s done all of those things in my mind as well as anyone in baseball.”
Ultimately, the Rookie of the Year Award will come down to whether voters valued Stewart’s slugging excellence or Benge’s more well-rounded résumé. Wetherholt could also siphon votes as a standout infield defender who hit 17 home runs, stole 14 bases and produced a .704 OPS.
The BBWAA will make its announcement on Nov. 9. In addition to Benge, Nolan McLean could score some down-ballot votes as the NL’s top rookie pitcher.
“I feel like that’s a huge award, and there’s a bunch of guys in the running -- one being another guy in this clubhouse,” Benge said. “But I feel like there’s a lot of good players in there, and winning that would be amazing.”
The Mets have had six Rookies of the Year in their 65-year history, including Alonso, Jacob deGrom, Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Jon Matlack and Tom Seaver. They’ve had more individual players win that award than any other BBWAA honor.