PORT ST. LUCIE — Carson Benge could be the Mets right fielder this year, and on Tuesday, he shook hands with the best right fielder in franchise history. Darryl Strawberry greeted him before the Mets played Houston at Clover Park.
“It was cool to meet him,’’ Benge said. “I know what he means to this org. I know what a great player he was and all the home runs he hit.”
The two also have an unlikely connection.
“He said he almost went to Oklahoma State,’’ Benge said.
Strawberry signed a letter of intent to play at the school before he was drafted first overall by the Mets in 1980.
“I don’t know much about the young man, but I hear great things about him,’’ Strawberry said. “I think this organization has really done a great job developing the younger players again, as you will see, a lot of them are starting to really click.”
Strawberry made his MLB debut with the Mets just after he turned 21 in 1983.
Benge turned 23 in January.
“I think looking at him, he’s probably a kid that’s got a chance to flourish here,” Strawberry said of Benge. “Sometimes you’ve got to put the young players out there. You’ve got to let them learn. It’s hard lessons, but they’ll figure it out, just like I did.”
Jack Wenninger made the first Grapefruit League start of his career and the sixth-round pick out of the University of Illinois in 2023 made an immediate realization.
“I finished my warmups and caught the ball from Bo [Bichette] and saw Juan [Soto] in right and Ronny [Mauricio at shortstop] and [Marcus] Semien [at second],” said Wenninger, who spent all of 2025 at Double-A Binghamton. “It was pretty cool.”
Wenninger, who turns 24 next month, pitched two scoreless innings as he tries to become one of the next wave of starting pitchers to make it to Queens in the near future.
Carlos Mendoza said Wenninger’s splitter was “as advertised.”
For now, he’s soaking up as much knowledge as possible at major league camp, leaning heavily on Sean Manaea.
Kodai Senga threw live batting practice on a back field Tuesday and Mendoza has been encouraged by his increased velocity this spring.
“In my experience with him, we haven’t seen that kind of intensity this early in camp,’’ Mendoza said. “He’s healthy. We’ve got to keep it that way.’’
After it appeared Mauricio might have forgotten the number of outs in the top of the third — when he didn’t play a ground ball aggressively at shortstop — Mendoza said Mauricio just sat back on the ball more than he should have.
Luis Torrens challenged two pitches behind the plate and lost both, a day after Hayden Senger successfully challenged a called ball with Clay Holmes on the mound… Nolan McLean is slated to start Thursday, with Freddy Peralta going Friday, according to Mendoza.
