NEW YORK -- Carson Benge’s two-way journey is over before ever really beginning.
Benge, the Mets’ first-round Draft pick earlier this month who pitched and hit at Oklahoma State, has decided to become a full-time outfielder now that he’s officially signed to his first professional contract. Upon putting ink to paper Tuesday on a $4 million signing bonus (and using some of that money to buy a new Ford F-150 Raptor truck), Benge set down both the pen and his bat.
“As hard as it is to do one thing, it’s double the amount of hard to do both,” Benge said Thursday at Citi Field. “Being able to stick to one should help me.”
Benge’s decision comes as no surprise to Mets decision-makers and rival scouts, all of whom viewed him as a bat-first prospect. He showed why during an introductory batting practice session at Citi Field, blasting one ball halfway up the second deck in right field during an impressive cage round.
Among those watching was Trey Cobb, a Mets farmhand from 2017-22 who became an area scout for the club this past offseason. Cobb, who is also an Oklahoma State alumnus, was already well aware of Benge from having watched many of the Cowboys’ games in his free time. His new job gave him a chance to confirm what he already knew: Benge was legit.
“It’s funny, because people congratulate you, right?” Cobb said, laughing. “I literally did nothing. I just told the story of what I saw, and this kid delivered every time guys came in [to see him.]”
Some scouts took note of Benge on the mound, where he pitched to a 3.16 ERA his junior season. But most were there for his bat and glove. At the plate, Benge hit .335/.444/.665 with 24 homers in 61 games as a junior. On defense, he spent most of his time in right field, largely because that’s considered the most difficult place to play at OSU’s O’Brate Stadium. Mets evaluators, including vice president of amateur scouting Kris Gross, have always viewed him as a potential five-tool center fielder in the pros.
“I imagine the plus defense is going to translate to center,” Cobb said. “It’s plus arm strength. It’s plus defense. The contact [hitting] is really his strength right now, the feel for the power. He’s got great raw power, and he can leave the yard to the opposite field. It’s everything you could want in a hitter.”
Benge wasn’t Cobb’s only project in his first Draft as an amateur scout. The Mets wound up taking five of their 20 players from Cobb’s Midwest area, including fifth-round shortstop Trey Snyder, who signed a well-above-slot $1.32 million bonus. Over the course of the spring, Cobb put more than 20,000 miles on his car.
But Benge was the player Cobb knew best. Some days, he sat in the O’Brate stands watching games alongside Benge’s brother, Garrett, a teammate of Cobb’s for two seasons with the Cowboys. When Benge arrived in New York to sign his first professional contract, Cobb went out to dinner with him to celebrate.
“You’re more excited for the kid because you know how good of a fit it is,” said Cobb, who made it as far as Triple-A Syracuse as a pitcher. “Playing in the organization, you know how good of an organization it is. You get to know these kids so well that you want them to go to their best fit. And I knew that this was his best fit."
So snug a fit was Benge, in fact, that when he arrived in New York City, he requested to ride public transportation because he wanted to see a famed subway rat. Benge also took time during his first-ever trip to Manhattan to view the Sept. 11 memorial downtown and check out Times Square -- “I probably won’t go back there again,” he quipped -- and the Empire State Building.
“His makeup and personality are too good to be wasted not in New York,” Cobb said. “This kid has literally never been nervous in his life. There’s nothing that’s going to faze him. It would have been a shame to waste that not in this city.”