A season in which the Mets are playing out the string before even the All-Star Game arrives belongs in the trash.
But in that garbage can, there are items that can be dusted off and preserved for a future that looks far less rancid than the present.
In A.J. Ewing, the Mets might have discovered their leadoff hitter and center fielder — a remarkably valuable combination — for the better part of the next decade.
In Carson Benge, the Mets are watching a promising rookie blossom into something greater, each at-bat stronger than the last.
And Ewing and Benge may spend years tracking down fly balls to help out Christian Scott, who has bounced back from surgery to look like a fixture in the Mets rotation.
The three youthful standouts stood out in Wednesday’s 6-2 victory over the Royals, during which the Mets rode a five-run eighth — the run-scoring work all coming with two outs, courtesy of a bases-loaded drilling of Jared Young, a Brett Baty single, a wild pitch and a Francisco Alvarez single — to win just a second game at Citi Field in their past nine.
Ewing continued to look more than comfortable both against big league pitching and atop a lineup, stepping up as the Mets leadoff hitter in the first and redirecting a fastball 420 feet to center for the only run the Mets would score until the 11-batter eighth, in which Ewing helped the cause by serving a double to left-center.
During a breakout minor league campaign last year, Ewing totaled three home runs in 124 games. On Wednesday he homered for a second straight night and third time in four games.
“I’m super comfortable in the box right now,” said the 21-year-old, who has launched seven in 53 games.
“There continues to be evolution in every aspect of his game,” said interim manager Andy Green, who had previously watched that evolution in his role atop player development.
One of Ewing’s partners on the grass is the 23-year-old Benge, who singled in the fourth and sixth to make it three straight games with multiple hits. At the end of April, the rookie owned a .525 OPS and was the subject of questions regarding whether he would be optioned. That OPS is now .737.
His most impressive plate appearance came in the eighth, when he extended the two-out rally by turning a 1-2 count into a 10-pitch walk.
Ewing’s other partner on the grass is the signed-through-2039 Juan Soto.
It looks as if at least one aspect of the Mets is settled.
“It’s a dynamic outfield with young kids playing alongside the best hitter in the game, and the young kids play the game the right way,” Green said before the Mets (39-54) won a third game in their past four. “I think a lot of people, from the scouts that found them to the people that coach them, helped those guys take steps forward, and now they belong in the outfield. They know it.”
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Scott, meanwhile, might have been forgotten about last year, when the trio of Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong teased that they might be the future of the rotation in Queens. McLean will be, Sproat is in Milwaukee and Tong in Triple-A Syracuse, while Scott, fully rehabbed from 2024 Tommy John surgery, has asserted once again that he belongs.
On Wednesday, the 27-year-old threw five shutout innings in which he let up just three hits and walked one while striking out five, slicing his ERA to 3.10 in 12 starts.
By just about any measure, Scott enjoyed a great night. Yet this great night was not enough for an organization that sees a higher ceiling and longer nights of work in Scott’s future.
“It’s a great outing. You go five scoreless innings, right on 90 pitches,” Green began, before adding the but: “He’s better than that.”
The righty needed 90 pitches to record 15 outs because of lapses such as the second inning, when he got two quick outs before falling behind Nick Loftin, 3-0, for an eventual walk. He fell behind the next batter, Isaac Collins 3-1 and allowed a hit.
In motivating one more piece for the future, Green said Scott must learn to “step on the neck of the other team.” Scott heard him.
“There’s always something to get better at,” said Scott, who has not yet completed the sixth inning this season. “For me, it’s going deeper in games.”
