Carson Benge, the 21-year-old first round draft pick of the New York Mets who played the outfield and pitched for Oklahoma State, said Thursday that he will focus on being a position player.
“We set in stone that I’m just gonna be an outfielder from here on out,” Benge, who bats left and throws right, told reporters at Citi Field. “Just gonna drop pitching. Focus on one. Trying to get me up here as quickly as possible. See how that turns out. But, as much as hard as it is to do one thing, it’s double the amount of hard to do both. So being able to stick to one should help me.”
He hit .335/.444/.665/1.109 with 18 home runs in 304 plate appearances as a junior. He was 10-for-14 stealing bases. He pitched to a 3.16 ERA in 18 appearances (four starts), striking out 44 in in 37 innings. He was asked if giving up pitching was a tough call.
“I mean, not really,” he said. “I just wanna be able to get up here, and if that’s gonna be the quickest way for me, then I’m OK with it.”
During his first visit to Citi Field, Benge took batting practice, talked with owner Steve Cohen and was asked about his impression of New York City.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “Took my breath away. Really like it, took a little bit getting used to considering I’m from Oklahoma, bunch of hills, no big cities there. But I really love it, been traveling around a little bit and I really like it so far.”
He visited the 9/11 memorial, a steakhouse, saw the Empire State Building and took in Times Square. “That was good once, probably won’t go back there again, too many people for me.”
He also revealed that he bought a Ford F-150 Raptor. It was reported earlier on Thursday that Benge was given a $3,997,500. The slot value of his No. 19 draft position is $4.2 million.
“I got a truck, sure did. Yeah, that was my first purchase. Had to,” he said. “Haven’t had a truck in a while, so. I think mine gave out, it was a 2003. Mine gave out in March, so being able to get a car was pretty cool. Stranded the whole summer.”
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