When Carson Benge rounded first base and A.J. Ewing touched home plate to cap a walk-off win over the Tigers on May 13 at Citi Field, Jeff Albert could not help but reminisce on a similar scene last June.
The Mets’ director of major league hitting stood beside Gilbert Gomez, then-High-A Brooklyn manager, when Ewing swung his arm around Benge and the pair sprinted in from center field to join the fracas as the Cyclones won their first half championship in the South Atlantic League.
Fast-forward a little less than a year and one of the glimmers of hope in the Mets’ grim 23-33 start has been the emergence of Benge and Ewing, the rookie outfielders whose production showcases the benefits of the Mets’ player development system.
Benge earned his spot out of spring training, shook off a slow start and is slashing .302/.368/.385 with one home run, 14 RBI, 16 runs and five doubles in May. Since debuting on May 12, Ewing is slashing .250/.350/.346 with one home run, one triple, six runs, four RBI and three stolen bases in 15 games.
“They’re confident kids. They carry a chip on their shoulder everywhere they go,” said Gomez, who managed both last season in High-A. “They want to be great. They put the work in to be great. I feel like we have done – we talking as a team – we’ve done a good job having them blend in.”
When the Mets cleaned house within their coaching staff in the offseason, Carlos Mendoza, quality assurance coach Danny Barnes, assistant hitting coach Rafael Fernandez and bullpen coach José Rosado were only a few of the familiar faces that remained.
The Mets kept a process in place with their youth in mind, and Albert rose from director of hitting development to lead the Mets’ hitting program, while Gomez took over as the Mets’ first-base coach and outfield coordinator.
Assistant pitching coach Dan McKinney made a natural coaching progression, rising from one level each season from Single-A St. Lucie in 2023 to High-A Brooklyn in 2024 and Double-A Binghamton in 2025 before jumping to the major leagues.
“We talk about the turnover and all that, but in reality, there’s a lot of continuity there and we see it now,” Mendoza said. “They’re super familiar, guys that they’ve been playing together, but also know a lot of the coaches in here and that helps with that transition.”
That knowledge of each rookie’s progression has helped the Mets accentuate their strengths while easing the adjustment to the big leagues.
“The biggest message in here is they got to play their game. Be yourself,” Mendoza said. “I know things get fast. There’s a lot more people. There’s a lot more that comes, especially here in New York. It’s just exciting. I’m not surprised by it. It’s just fun to watch.”
In Benge, a player simply “out to play the game hard” since being drafted as a two-way player out of Oklahoma State in the first round in 2024, the Mets felt they had one of the best hitters in the country out of college. And the coaching staff has tried to hone the 23-year-old’s athleticism.
“A lot of confidence in himself, really great demeanor out there,” Albert said. “To his credit, he has kind of shortened up his swing, become more efficient and he really showed all the skills in the minors, righties, lefties, using the whole field, hitting velocity, doing everything that you would want to see from a player like him.”
Ewing said that Albert was one of the first people in the Mets organization that he met when he was drafted in the fourth round in 2023. Albert credited Ewing with having a clear offensive identity, a keen eye and solid day-to-day routine.
“Just trying to spray the ball as much as I can, not trying to do too much,” Ewing said. “I’m at my best when I’m hitting line drives all over the field. When I’m out there, try to get back there and when I’m there, just stay there.”
Both have quickness as a tool. Defensively, Gomez said that Ewing’s arm has improved within the last year. He sees a more comfortably aggressive player in the outfield in Benge, with an arm that has always been there from his time as a pitcher.
“(Benge) got faster, that’s one of the things that he kind of improved over the offseason with the camps that we did performance wise down there in (Port St. Lucie), but he’s definitely faster,” Gomez said. “Definitely more aggressive trying to make plays. That was something that we pushed him to be aggressive in the bases, in the outfield. The ability was there, it was just a matter of him getting more experience.”
The duo is the latest example of the Mets’ engine churning out ready-made major league talent.
On Wednesday, the fruits of that process were on display as Benge batted out of the leadoff spot and Ewing found a home in the cleanup spot. One night later, Benge drove in two runs and Ewing provided a highlight-reel diving play in center field to keep the Reds at bay.
Two months into the major league season, the Mets are counting on those rookies in major roles. And the coaching staff is comfortable deploying them in different situations because they’ve been there every step of the way.
“It’s hard to make that jump from Triple A to the big leagues, but hopefully for the players and the coaches, there’s a certain comfort level,” Albert said. “We have a relationship. We know the language, we know the communication. Hopefully we can turn that into an advantage for us.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing benefit from NY Mets continuity