What are the Ceilings of Nolan McLean and Carson Benge?
February 10, 2025, the New York Mets released their spring training roster. Two absent names that may surprise readers were starting pitcher Nolan McLean and outfielder Carson Benge. Benge did get into one spring training game on March 7, 2025, where he played four innings in center field and was struck out by Evan Reifert in his sole at-bat. McLean did not make it into a spring training game.
Fast forward one year, and both are in big league camp with expectations that they will be impact players in 2026. Both players were two-way players in college, and entering 2026 no longer are. They now both have one full season under their belts solely in their role and have room to grow.
Carson Benge
Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
Nolan McLean
Heading into the 2025 season, McLean was coming off a 2024 season where he stopped hitting, started focusing only on pitching for the first time in his career, and threw a fastball, curveball, slider, and changeup. That season, he primarily threw his fastball and slider while experimenting with various changeup grips and curveball profiles. He also worked in a sweeper at times and was working on a cutter and a two-seam fastball.
In 2025, McLean’s pitch arsenal looked unrecognizable to his 2024 arsenal. Through Double-A and his first two months of Triple-A, Mclean was a sweeper primary pitcher who also utilized his new sinker for contact suppression. He turned his curveball into an 80-grade pitch per Fangraphs, solidified his changeup shape, and continued to experiment with a cutter. He had great results in Double-A and Triple-A, but he struggled with left-handed pitching, gave up a lot of hard contact, and fell behind in the count continually, leading to a high walk rate. Then in July, he overhauled his pitching.
His changes included dropping his arm angle to 27 degrees, changing his pitch mix to rely on a sweeper primarily instead of a sinker, roughly doubling his curveball usage, completely changing his cutter shape, spin, and movement profile, and becoming more consistent in his release. The most impressive part: he made these changes over the course of just a few games.
McLean earned his call to the majors on August 13, 2025, and followed it with 48 innings pitched to a 2.06 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. Heading into 2026, McLean has cemented himself into the top half of the rotation. But he has likely not finished developing, nor has he likely reached his ceiling.
Even with his incredible results, there are areas of growth for McLean in 2026. His 8.6% walk rate was still below average in the 29th percentile, his 44.2% hard hit rate was in the 38th percentile and his 23.4% chase rate was in the 3rd percentile. McLean will likely look to work on limiting his walks and hard hit rate in 2026.
The reason to be the most excited about his future revolves around how he has shown he can quickly adapt as a pitcher. The pitcher he was on August 13, 2025 was significantly different than the pitcher he was on even July 13, 2025, let alone compared to July 13, 2024. McLean will likely continue to grow over the season and look even more different come July 13, 2026. We have already seen potential velocity and spin gains in spring training. As he begins his first ever big league spring training it will be exciting to see what changes he made throughout the offseason and what his ceiling could be in the future.
Carson Benge
Carson Benge was a two-way player in college and is the first player David Stearns drafted with the Mets. Benge was drafted as a hitter only and his draft profiles described him as a player with good bat speed, good contact rates, and a noisy swing. He did not chase much in college and he posted above-average power metrics, though he did not lift or pull the ball significantly, limiting that power potential. He was viewed as most likely profiling as a right fielder defensively but athletic enough that he could develop into a player who could handle all three outfield spots. This profile shone through in his 14 games in Low-A in 2024, where he slashed .273/.420/.436/.857 with 2 HRs. His power was mostly to the opposite field and this sample gave the Mets a clear guide to what they wanted to work with Benge to change.
Benge had already started to change his swing mechanics leading up to the 2024 draft. He went from a high load where he would angle his bat parallel to the ground before lowering his hands and aligning his bat perpendicular to the ground to a much simpler swing that removed much of the extra movement. While he still has a very open stance, he continued to simplify his load and leg kick across the 2025 season. His lower-half movement still limits his ability to pull the ball hard in the air but he is good at keeping his timing straight with his swings.
In his first ever season as solely a hitter, Benge rocketed through the minors in 2025, eventually reaching Triple-A. While his results were not good, everything under the hood looked the same as it did in Double-A, and sometimes 103 PA with a hit-by-pitch on the wrist can just be noise and bad luck. He posted plus exit velocities with his 90% EV of 105.9 in the 82nd percentile. His 86.5% zone contact was in the 76th percentile, his 53.5% hard hit rate was in the 97th percentile, and his 14.1% barrel rate was in the 96th percentile.
Benge also maximized his LA Sweet-Spot% in Triple-A at 43.7%, which was in the 99th percentile in 2025. This was one of the concerns with him in the draft but his swing change may have eliminated that fear. He is driving the ball more than he did when drafted, has a high zone-contact rate against all pitch types, and should hit for average, take walks, and have above-average power.
Benge also developed into a capable center fielder, and could even be a plus defender there. He will likely play primarily right field in the majors, allowing him to utilize his plus throwing arm, but he is now a real option in center field if necessary.
One year removed from not being invited to spring training, Benge has a shot to earn a spot on the major league roster. He is not a guarantee to make the opening day roster, but he needs to be called up within the first two weeks to maintain his PPI eligibility. The Mets have outfielders, including Mike Tauchman and MJ Melendez in camp with them in case Benge does not look ready to make the major league roster.
As a rookie yet to even make his major league debut, Benge very likely has yet to hit his ceiling. Like McLean, he has shown the ability to make quick changes in his game so his ceiling itself may still be unknown. The Mets may continue to look to refine his stance, load, and leg kick to utilize his bat speed to pull the ball in the air more. As it stands, Benge projects to be a 20-plus home run hitter. With his exit velocities, if he can pull the ball more, we could be looking at even a 30+ home run bat. The changes we see in his first spring training and across the 2026 season will be fun to watch as Benge adjusts to major league pitching.
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