Mets' Carson Benge is the Opening Day starter in rightfield
New York Mets’ Carson Benge catches a fly ball against the St. Louis Cardinals during the second inning of a spring training game on February 27, 2026 in Jupiter, Florida. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — After the Mets wrapped up spring training with an intrasquad scrimmage on Monday, before they hopped on a plane back to New York, one last piece of news had to become official.
At the beginning of spring training, the club gave Carson Benge the runway to win the starting rightfielder job. With the spring he had — his first big-league camp, by the way, after starting last season with High-A Brooklyn — there was no denying him the role.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza delivered the news to Benge that he made the Opening Day roster and will be the starting rightfielder against the Pirates on Thursday afternoon at Citi Field. Benge, 23, is the Mets’ No. 2 prospect and the sport’s No. 16 prospect, according to MLB.com.
In the days leading up to Monday, Mendoza reiterated that they had not made any decisions on Benge. But the manager’s belief that Benge is a major league-caliber player has been evident for quite some time.
“We didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves here, but just how he carried himself throughout camp,” Mendoza said at Clover Park on Monday. “You could tell that with the way he was interacting and the way he presented himself on the field and off the field.
“You could tell by the way that there's something special about this guy. And he earned it.”
Earned it, he did.
Benge finished spring training with a .366/.435/.439 slash line and a team-high 15 hits in 14 games. Mendoza also lauded his performance defensively, and Benge himself said that’s the area in which he’s taken the most strides.
He took the opportunity and ran with it, giving Mets’ decision-makers no choice but to put him on the team.
The only roadblock standing in the way of Benge was Mike Tauchman, the 35-year-old journeyman outfielder who was having a solid spring himself before tearing his left meniscus on Saturday. Benge may have been the starting rightfielder before Tauchman went down, but once he did, his role was solidified (barring a questionable decision that would’ve had fans outraged).
Benge’s Opening Day debut will come 620 days — one year, eight months and 12 days — after the Mets selected him 19th overall out of Oklahoma State in the 2024 MLB Draft. It’s a rapid rise through the system, one that the franchise never had a chance to ignore.
His first at-bat will come against 2025 NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes, arguably the game’s best pitcher.
“I've always thought about it, since I was a little kid, thinking about that moment when you first take the field in the big stage for the first time,” Benge said. “It's going to be surreal. I'm going to try my best to take it in, but stay calm and play my game.”
The veteran nature in which Benge carried himself was evident to those with the Mets, and he stayed even keeled about the waiting aspect of the decision throughout the spring. That certainly helped his case, too.
“I’ve honestly been pretty easy about the mental part,” he said. “I don't think too deep, get down on myself, get too high on myself. I just try and stay right there in the middle.”
The fact that Benge will start his career on Opening Day is a rarity in recent Mets history. He will become only the 11th player to debut for the Mets on Opening Day this century, and only the fourth to start. The last Met to debut with an Opening Day start for the team is a guy whose career turned out pretty well: Pete Alonso.
“Kid that gets drafted in 2024 and two years later, here we are giving him the news that he's going to be playing in the big leagues for us,” Mendoza said. “So credit to Kris Gross, our (vice president of amateur and international scouting), and everyone in the organization that had a hand on this guy.”
Put this into perspective: Gilbert Gomez, the Mets’ outfield coach who has been working closest with Benge, was the Mets’ High-A manager the previous two seasons. He managed him at that level as recently as last June 21.
Benge visited Citi Field (and New York) for the first time right after he was drafted, taking batting practice and meeting the team. He will be at Citi Field for only the second time on Wednesday for the team’s pre-Opening Day workout. This time, he really is a Met.
Said Benge: “That it's all going to come true, my dream since I was little, is pretty cool.”
Notes & quotes: The Mets’ final bench spot and final bullpen spot are still to be determined. Vidal Brujan, Jared Young, Ben Rortvedt and lefthanders Richard Lovelady and Bryan Hudson are traveling to New York for the workout. Said Mendoza: “We told them that this is probably going to be all the way to the end.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
