Mets Make Decision on Top Prospect Jonah Tong

Mets Option Top Pitching Prospect Jonah Tong to Triple-A

“He’s going to continue to work on his pitches, especially the secondary pitches,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said following the news. “He is going to pitch for us. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to do here, and he’s going to go down there and continue to develop and work on some things.”

Tong will join recently demoted Nick Morabito, who was added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, and right-handers Dylan Ross and Jonathan Pintaro. They also reassigned righty Jack Wenninger to minor league camp.

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Carson Benge, the Mets’ top-ranked position prospect, is having a big spring. The 23-year-old, who is among the competitors for the team’s right field opening. So far, he is hitting .391/.440/.478 with a .918 OPS in 23 at-bats of Grapefruit League action. If Benge keeps playing the way he is at the moment, it appears he will earn a spot on the Opening Day roster.

“I want him to continue being Carson Benge,” Mendoza said. “[I want hime to] continue to have good at-bats. You see some of the tools and some of the abilities we keep talking about him. His ability to use the whole field, put the ball in play.”

“He’s taken very competitive at-bats,” Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns said at a live press conference on Monday. “He’s a tough out. I think he’s played a nice right field. He’s done what we would have expected him to do. We think he’s going to be a really good player and we’ll have a difficult decision as we get toward [the end] of camp.”

Francisco Lindor (recovery from hamate surgery) is showing progress over the past couple of weeks. At this rate, he is likely to start on Opening Day. In the backfields on Tuesday, Lindor worked on fielding ground balls, marking another positive step forward for a return.

Mendoza said Luis Robert Jr. is on track to play in his first Grapefruit League game on Thursday.