Can Both Carson Benge and Mike Tauchman Make the Opening Day Roster?

There has been much debate throughout spring training about who will make the opening day as the opening day right fielder, with the leading candidates likely being Carson Benge and Mike Tauchman. But is it truly one or the other? Can both make the roster?

What Would the Playing Time Look Like?

The 2026 Mets are not likely to be a team where every player plays 162 games. Per Anthony Dicomo of MLB.com, Luis Robert Jr. will get “regular off-days in hopes of keeping him healthy through October.” This could open up playing time in the outfield with Carson Benge in center field and Mike Tauchman in right field while Robert Jr. has rest days. Benge, meanwhile, has never played more than 116 games in a season and will likely need rest days himself to stay fresh, opening up playing time for Tauchman in the outfield.

Jorge Polanco has not played more than 138 games in a season since 2021, and at age 32 could benefit from rest days throughout the season. Marcus Semien turned 35 last September and is coming off a 2025 season in which he missed the final few weeks of the season with a foot injury. It could make sense to have some workload management for him. Brett Baty has never played more than 136 games in a season and has a history of oblique and hamstring issues. In a 26-week season, say the goal is for each of them to play 140 games. That alone is 66 games across the season (roughly average 2.5 per week) that would need coverage.

An important note is that Mike Tauchman has never been an everyday player in his career. Coming off knee surgery, it is unclear if he can physically handle being an everyday player. Over his last three seasons, he has put up his largest workloads playing:

• 2023 – 108 games and 401 PA
• 2024 – 109 games and 350 PA
• 2025 – 93 games and 385 PA

To be clear, this is not solely due to him missing time from injury. Across those seasons, he averaged 4.44 games per week and 16.94 plate appearances per week he was on the major league roster.

Per Sammon, Mike Tauchman can opt out of his minor league contract on March 25 if he does not make the opening day roster, which will likely be a factor in the Mets’ decision. It is also unknown what playing time promises, if any, the Mets made when they signed him to his contract.

Even with Benge on the roster as the primary right fielder, Tauchman could still play in four to five games a week. He would play in right field when Luis Robert Jr. or Carson Benge need a day off, would be the designated hitter when Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco, or Brett Baty need a day off, and would have pinch-hitting opportunities.

What Would the Opening Day Roster Look Like?

Assuming Lindor is ready for opening day, the 26-man roster would have 13 hitters and 13 pitchers as usual, with Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Carson Benge, Bo Bichette, Francisco Lindor, Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien, Juan Soto, and Luis Robert Jr. as the starting lineup. On the bench, you would have Mike Tauchman, Tyrone Taylor, Luis Torrens and Mark Vientos.

The big question comes down to this: do the Mets need an extra outfielder on the roster or an extra infielder?

With Luis Robert Jr. needing to be load-managed and Brett Baty developing into a versatile infielder, you could make the argument that an extra outfielder is the bigger necessity. You could also argue that Baty is that fifth outfielder. He has taken reps in right field, and while he looks like he is still learning the position, he has shown traits that the Mets have pointed to when discussing why they see him as a potential option to take innings in the outfield in 2026. It is unclear if the Mets view him as somebody they would trust to start games there or if he would only be used in certain situations.

Do the Mets Need A Shortstop on the Bench?

Having a bench of Luis Torrens, Tyrone Taylor, Mark Vientos, and Mike Tauchman does not include the typical bench infielder. But is that a necessity for this roster?

With Francisco Lindor on the roster, it may not be. Over the past four seasons, he has played fewer than 160 games once: in 2024, when he played only 152 games due to a back injury. At age 32, it is possible the Mets could prefer he take a few more rest days, but with Bo Bichette, Marcus Semien and Jorge Polanco all having past experience at shortstop, the team can likely find coverage for the one or two games a month Lindor would take a rest day. Brett Baty, meanwhile, has shown that he is capable of playing every infield position, excluding shortstop, providing the coverage the utility bench spot typically covers. The Mets could also still trade infielder Mark Vientos before opening day if the team decided they did want a utility infielder while rostering both Benge and Tauchman.

After reassigning Jackson Cluff and Grae Kessinger to minor league camp, Ronny Mauricio and Vidal Brujan are the only two middle infielders in camp left to compete for that roster spot. It is unclear if either can truly play shortstop at this point in their careers. Ronny Mauricio has only played 33 innings there since his knee surgery, and while he has taken reps there in spring training, the results have been mixed. Brujan, meanwhile, has struggled at the shortstop position in the majors with a negative-4 outs above average and negative-4 fielding run value, and has primarily played second base and in the outfield in his career. If those two are not viewed as either plus defensive infield replacements or starting shortstops, it is unclear how they would make sense for this Mets roster. Mauricio can be optioned while Brujan cannot.

Is Carson Benge Ready?

As of March 17, Carson Benge is slashing .406/.472/.500/.972. Of course, this is a small sample size where the competition is not solely against major league pitching. But there are many things he has shown under the hood that point to him being ready, while a few that could potentially point to him not.

Carson Benge is showing incredible contact traits this spring,

• 91.4% zone-contact rate (87th percentile)
• 18.1% whiff rate (81st percentile)
• 12.8% strikeout rate (84th percentile)

Benge has also made hard contact this spring.

• 110.8 miles per hour max exit velocity (79th percentile)
• 90.8 miles per hour average exit velocity (62nd percentile)
• 104.6 miles per hour 90% exit velocity (51st percentile)

One point of concern is that Benge has only walked three times this spring. He did have a 13.1% walk rate in the minors in 2024, so it should be expected that in a larger sample size, the walks would tick back up. Benge has yet to pull a fly ball in the air, though going to the opposite field has been a big part of his game dating back to college. It is possible the Mets told him in spring training to stick to what he is good at. The biggest concern, though, is his 66.7% ground ball rate. In the minors in 2025, Benge was at a 42.5% ground ball rate, so the Mets likely would prefer to see him cut down on the ground balls in the final few spring training games.

It is also important to remember that these spring training games are only one piece of the pie. Benge has likely taken dozens of at-bats against live pitchers and in simulated games that the public does not have access to. The Mets also have his batting cage data to aid in their decision. Carlos Mendoza described this in an article by Sammon in The Athletic, saying, “I just like the fact he controls the strike zone, uses the whole field, takes pride in putting the ball in play. The power, we’ve seen it. In BP, with the way the ball comes off his bat.”

The Mets have a difficult decision ahead of them, but it does not seem like it absolutely has to be one or the other between Carson Benge and Mike Tauchman.

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