(2026) Mets Rookies Carson Benge - Christian Scott - Nolan McLean & A.J. Ewing Bring Hope & Excitement To the Team for the First Time All Season

In the Mets series opener this week with Detroit at Citi Field, the exciting news was that the Mets were going to bring up one of their top prospects- A.J. Ewing to try to bring some life to a rather dormant team. The Mets were also suffering thru many injuries which made the decision to bring up Ewing even easier.

A.J. Ewing: The former fourth round pick went from A ball to the majors in just three seasons. In 2025 he went thru A ball St. Lucie-A ball Brooklyn then to AA Binghamton where he hit .339 & stole 12 bases in 28 games. In 2026 he hit .349 at AA Binghamton in 18 games then was promoted to AAA Syracuse where he hit .326 with  five steals in 12 games. Now the big leagues.

A good crowd of 36,382 came to Citi Field as the Mets (15-25) took on A.J. Hinch's Tigers (19-23). The starting pitchers were Freddy Peralta (2-3) who had lost his last two starts guving up five runs in 11.1 innings & an equally struggling Jack Flaherty (0-3).

Things went quiet in the 1st inning. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, MJ Melendez walked & Bret Baty singled. 

A.J. Ewing Debut: With two on & one out A.J. Ewing made his MLB debut getting a nice ovation from the fans,  with his Dad & others on hand for the game as well. Ewing reached base for the first time in his career with a walk,  getting a another round of applause from the crowd.

With one out Francisco Alvarez grounded out to short allowing Melendez to score the first Mets run. In the bottom of the 3rd, three straight singles from Bo Bichette, Juan Soto & Mark Vientos tied the game at two.

In the bottom of the 4th, Francisco Alvarez doubled to center field. Alvarez would go down with a meniscus injury in his next at bat. Carson Benge then singled to left field scoring Alvarez putting the Mets ahead 3-2.

In the bottom of the 6th, A.J. Ewing reached base for the second time with another walk. He then showed off his speed stealing second base. 

Quotes- Ron Darling: "He's so fast, he ran out of his helmet."

Luis Torrens waked as well & Carson Benge reached with his second hit of the game on an infield single.

Infield hits & little help from Tiger defense brough in the next three runs as Bo Bichette's fielders choice & Juan Soto's ground out accounted for the runs.

In the home 7th, Brett Baty collected a one out single. With two outs A.J. Ewing tripled to right field colleting his first big league RBI, he then scored his first run on Luis Torrens RBI single giving the Mets an 8-2 lead.

In the 8th, back-to-back hits from Juan Soto & Mark Vientos put two men on. Austin Slater then reached on a slow groundball to the pitcher scoring Juan Soto. 

Marcus Semien then walked loading the bases. A.J. Ewing also walked with the bases loaded collecting his second RBI while reaching base four times in his exciting debut.

Freddy Peralta broke his losing streak, striking out seven in his victory to get to .500 at 3-3. Brooks Raley & Austin Warren provided scoreless efforts out of the bullpen in the 10-2 win.

In the series opener the Mets went on to a 10-2 win, coming back from two runs down early on.

On Wednesday night, a crowd of 33,989 came out to Citi Field for Italian Night as former Met John Franco threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The Mets Christian Scott, was making his fourth start going up against Frambler Valdez (2-2).

May 13th, 2026: In the top of the 1st the Tigers got a lead off walk to Kevin McGonigle then a
miscue in right field by Carson Benge led to a double from Dillon Dingler, quickly putting two on. 

With one out Riley Green also doubled bringing in the first two runs with his 21st & 22nd RBIs on the season. Greene had a multi-three hit game raising his batting average up to .325 second best in the AL.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Mark Vientos led off with a base hit & Brett Baty collected a one out single with Vientos advancing to third. Tyrone Taylor grounded to the hole between third base & short, Kevin McGonigle dove making a fine play getting the out at second but Zach McKinstry's throw was high to first base as Vientos scored easily with the Mets first run.

Christian Scott settled in from there, not allowing any more runs getting into the 5th inning scattering seven hits, striking out five & walking two. Huascar Brazoban came in  giving the Mets 2.1 scoreless, hitless innings lowering his season ERA to 2.14.

In the bottom of the 7th, Tiger pitcher Framble Valdez struck out the first two batters. Luis Torrens then drew a walk & Carson Benge singled into left field for his second hit of the night. 

He had singled in his last at bat as well. Bo Bichette then blooped a base hit into shallow right field in between three Tiger fielders, allowing Luis Torrens to score the tying run.

Juan Soto, who had fouled a ball of his ankle earlier had to come out of the game adding to the Mets injury list. Luckily he would be back in the line up as a DH the next day.

The Mets tried a double steal but Carson Benge was thrown out at home plate ending the inning.

The game went to extra innings, tied up at two. In the top of the10th, although Brooks Raley issued a two out walk, he got Wenceel Perez to fly out to Tyrone Taylor in center to end the inning stranding the two runners.

Walk Off Hit: In the bottom of the 10th, A.J. Ewing was the inherited runner on second base. After Drew Anderson struck out Luis Torrens struck out, Carson Benge collected his first walk off hit driving a base hit up the middle with A.J. Ewing scoring his first run to win the game. 

The "baby Mets" as the broadcaster Gary Cohen called them, brought the most excitement to Citi Field than the fans had had all year.

It was Benge's first walk off RBI, as well as his first multi-three hit game. He now had seven multi hit games on the year & had hit safely in seven of last eight games batting .387 in that time with seven RBIs.

After the game, during the on field post game interview, Benge got a double Gatorade shower from his teammates.

Quotes- Carson Benge: "Just treating it like another game, just going out there & having fun with my boys, getting close with everyone just having a blast."

Wednesday May 14th: On the Thursday matinee, 34,642 came out to see the Mets young pitcher, Nolan McLean (1-2) take on Keider Montero (2-2).

In the top of the 1st, the Tigers put up three runs on Nolan McLean with a three run HR from Gage Workman. It was just the third HR McLean had given up on the season. This was also the third straight game the Mets had to work to comeback from behind two or more runs with Detroit.

First Career HR: In the bottom of the 3rd inning, the newest Met, A.J. Ewing added to all the excitement around his debut as hit his first career HR. The shot off Keider Montero landed over the right field fence into the bullpen delighting the fans & his Dad in attendance.

Quotes- A.J. Ewing: "I think it can be part of my game. I don't think it's going to be my identity. I want to spray the ball, hit a lot of line drives & put myself ina positin to get on base a lot. But when I catch stuff out front, it can happen for sure."

In the bottom of the 4th, MJ Melendez drew two out walk then Brett Baty hit his second HR of the season, a two run shot tying up the game at three. It was Baty's fourth multi-RBI game of the season.

In the 5th, Carson Benge singled to right field, hitting safely in his fourth straight game. He would single again later in the game giving him three straight multi-hit games. Benge then stole second for his team leading eighth stolen base.

Juan Soto then singled to centerfield, scoring Benge putting the Mets ahead 4-3. Next Mark Vientos hit his sixth HR of the season, a two run HR making it 6-3 Mets. 

In the bottom of the 6th, Marcus Semien drew a walk then A.J. Ewing collected his second hit of the game with a base hit to center field. 

Trivia: Ewing had now reached base in each of his first three career games. He reached base seven times in 13 plate appearances, raising his average to .333 with a.538 on base %.

The Mets put on a squeeze play as Hayden Senger, called up since the Francisco Alvarez injury bunted & Marcus Semein crossed the plate with the Mets seventh run. 

In the 7th, Juan Soto hit his 6th HR of the year driving in his second run of the game giving New York a 7-3 lead. Marcus Semien added a solo HR for the Mets fifth HR of the game sealing the 9-4 win. 

Nolan McLean got the win, goings even innings allowing three runs on six hits, a HR, three walks & seven strike outs. McLean has posted seven or more K's in six of his nine starts, with 64 strike outs (third most in the NL) in 52.1 innings. He now has lowered his ERA to 2.92.

Trivia: This series marked the third time in franchise history the team had come back from multiple runs down in a series of at least three games. It was the first series sweep for the Mets this season & they no longer have the worst record in the majors.

For the first time this season the Mets were exciting & it took he young new rookies to make it happen. 

Opinion: Realistically this team wont make the playoffs this year, so maybe they should think about getting rid of the dead wood-overrated Lindor & trade for some more young players, rebuild for the future. With Lindor this team will never win he is the biggest liability they have.