Two Cyclone alums represent Mets at Futures Game

The Mets picked two players from the Rumble Ponies, their Binghamton Double-A affiliate, to represent them at this year’s All-Star Futures Game in Atlanta’s Truist Park: former Cyclones pitcher Jonah Tong and recently promoted outfielder Carson Benge. Selection to this game is normally a springboard to the major leagues since these minor league players will eventually play for their major league parent team.

Although he has been very successful since the opening of the season, and is perhaps not major league-ready yet, Tong has been the topic of conversation on sports talk radio to “bring the kid up now” in view of the Mets’ recent pitching injuries.

From the beginning of the season, Tong has been on the fast track as he was named Double-A Pitcher of the Month for May, and nearly completed a no-hit seven-inning game in June.

Just before the Futures Game, Tong was leading the Eastern League in strikeouts with 125 in 78.2 innings across 15 games. With a .137 batting average against, Tong also has an average of 15.2 strikeouts per nine innings and is actually ahead of the major league leader MacKenzie Gore of the Washington Nationals with a 13.3 strikeout rate. 

On the offensive side, the Mets sent their 2024 first-round draft pick, outfielder Carson Benge from Oklahoma State University, as their position player. Benge started the season on the Brooklyn roster and was promoted to Binghamton in June after success at the top of the Cyclones’ batting order. Known for his defense and a strong arm, Benge batted .302 with 37 RBIs over 60 games for his promotion to Double-A. Although he only got into the game as a late-inning replacement and did not get a hit, he still said it was an honor to play in a major league park in front of a big crowd. 

National League manager Chipper Jones gave Tong the second inning to pitch and he showcased a quick body of work on the mound. Throwing nine out of 12 pitches for strikes, the 21-year-old 2022 seventh-round draft pick from Ontario, Canada, set down his American League opponents with ease. Tong displayed his signature low dropping curveball for a swing-and-a-miss for the first out, and then followed with a lineout to shortstop and a groundout to short again for a quick 1-2-3 inning.

Tong said he expected to feel “butterflies” at this game, but once he got to the mound “it felt natural instead.” When asked about the prospect of playing in the majors very soon, Tong simply responded that he was where he wanted to be now – a goal that he had set for himself in spring training. Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Tong said he was just looking to keep a steady pace to build on his recent success.