On Monday, two of the Mets’ most promising prospects received All-Star nods as the rosters for the Futures Game, set to take place in Atlanta on July 12, were finalized.
Jonathan Tong, a prominent pitching talent, along with outfielder Carson Benge — the Mets’ first-round pick from last year — were chosen to represent the team.
Tong, 22, has dominated at Double-A Binghamton, pitching to a 1.73 ERA in 14 starts.
The right-hander leads the entire minor leagues with 115 strikeouts this season.
In a seven-inning game as part of a doubleheader in May, he retired all 20 batters he faced over 6 ²/₃ innings as part of a combined perfect game.
Benge, 22, was promoted to Binghamton on June 23 after beginning the season with Single-A Brooklyn.
In 60 games with the Cyclones, he produced a .302/.417/.480 slash line with four homers and 37 RBIs.
He was leading the South Atlantic League in doubles (18) at the time of his promotion.
The Mets are optimistic that David Peterson, lined up to pitch against the Brewers in the series finale this Thursday, will gain an advantage from the additional rest provided by having Monday off.
In evaluating his past two performances — both of which were underwhelming — team officials deduced the left-hander may have been dealing with fatigue.
Peterson threw a complete-game shutout against the Nationals on June 11 and received an extra day of rest before his next start, in which he allowed three earned runs over seven innings against the Braves.
But Peterson’s following two starts were on normal rest.
In each of those starts, facing the Phillies and Pirates, Peterson failed to complete five innings and surrendered five earned runs.
Juan Soto wasn’t about to share his message when asked Sunday what he said in a players only meeting the previous night.
But the star outfielder said he’s confident in Mets leadership.
“We have got a lot of leaders in this room — guys that have experience before on [good] teams,” Soto said. “We have guys that have been here their whole career and young, core talent. I feel we have great leadership in here and this is a great way to handle the team to go through this.”
Does Soto consider himself one of those leaders?
“I try to help the team the best in any way I can do it,” Soto said. “I don’t know if they want to call me a leader. They can call me a leader.”
