Mets prospect Ryan Clifford homers twice, Carson Benge drives in three at Double-A

A quartet of highly-touted Mets prospects put on a show for the Double-A Binghamton in a 6-1 win over the Yankees’ Somerset Patriots on Wednesday night.

Ryan Clifford got things started by smacking a solo home run to right field that just got over the wall against a stiff breeze in the top of the second. The 340-foot blast off right-hander Ben Hess, the Yanks’ No. 7 prospect making his first Double-A start, was his first homer in his last 25 at-bats.

There was much less waiting for his next big fly, which came with absolutely no doubt, as he tattooed a 97 mph fastball from righty Hayden Merda 399 feet and 113.6 mph off the bat to right field.

Clifford, the No. 6 prospect in the Mets' system per Joe DeMayo's latest rankings, now has 23 home runs (tops in the Eastern League) and 72 RBI on the season. He raised his average to .250 and OPS to .866 after going 2-for-5 with a strikeout in his 101st game with Binghamton, with a promotion to Triple-A Syracuse before the end of the year not out of the question.

With one out in the top of the fourth, Carson Benge had a bases-loaded chance against reliever Cole Ayers. And after falling behind in the count 0-2, he looped a flyball into the left-center gap to clear the bases for his fifth double since his promotion in late June.

Benge, the No. 3 prospect in the system and Mets' first-round pick a year ago, finished 1-for-5 with two strikeouts in his first game since he was named Eastern League Player of the Month for July. He is batting .349 (38-for-109) with 23 RBI and a 1.070 OPS in his first 28 games at the Double-A level.

Nick Morabito, the No. 15 prospect and batting in the cleanup spot, laced a double on a shot to the wall in right to score Benge. It was his only hit in five times up with a strikeout, but gave him 23 on the season and 44 RBI. The 22-year-old is batting .279 with a .755 OPS through his first 87 games at Double-A.

Jett Williams added a double to left off Hess in the second and a hard-hit single up the middle in the top of the ninth to go 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. This was the Mets’ No. 1 prospect's 23rd multi-hit game of the season with Binghamton and helped raise his average to .282 with an .873 OPS.

He also made some good defensive plays at shortstop on a pair of double plays, but was charged with his 12th error of the year when he misplayed a grounder in the fifth.

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