Will Benson is going to make the Cleveland Guardians second-half really interesting

The Cleveland Guardians have called up Will Benson and things may get real interesting.

We’re three games into the Will Benson era of Cleveland Guardians baseball, and while he’s yet to get a hit, fans should be very excited about what’s to come with the young outfielder. Before he got called up, he was having a really good year in Triple-A Columbus. He was hitting .278, with 17 home runs, 20 doubles, 45 RBIs, 16 stolen bases, and a whopping 75 walks.

Jose Ramirez and Myles Straw are numbers one and two on the team with walks, with 43 and 42 respectively, and he had 400 plate appearances, about the same Ramirez and Straw, have had, and he’s nearly doubled their combined total.

To say Benson has a good eye for the ball would be fair, but he does suffer from an insanely high volume of strikeouts. This is peculiar for someone with such patience at the plate and has been an issue of his throughout his career.

Will Benson isn’t the perfect prospect but he’s very good

He’s struggled at the plate throughout his career prior to his 2022 season, with his best hitting season being in 2019 when he hit 22 home runs, and 78 RBIs, but only hit .230. It’s his ability to get on base however that has been the driving reason he’s been promoted throughout his career.

So yes, .278 Triple-A seasons aren’t the most reassuring aspect of his game, but with his ability to lay off bad pitches being obvious, you should, in theory, be able to teach him to shore up his holes and reduce his strikeout rate.

If Benson can find the same success in the Majors that he had in Triple-A this season, then he may be able to provide everything that a guy like Franmil Reyes could provide. Reyes was a legitimate power hitter and so is Benson, the big difference is that when Reyes slumped, he took the whole lineup with him. If Benson were to slump, he could still pull a Straw and get on base through a walk.

But he’ll still be pulling a Reyes, striking out two or three times a game in the meantime.

That’s something that has to be worked on, otherwise, he’s just going to have the same exploitable weakness that Reyes had before he got demoted. Benson may not be the perfect prospect on paper, but with his speed, power, and fairly patient demeanor at the plate, Benson will make the second half of the Guardians season very interesting.