New York Yankees Joel Sherman Yankees’ homegrown youth is imperative to an October run — and far beyond By Joel Sherman Published Sep. 11, 2026, 7:34 p.m. ET Yankees' Spencer Jones watches his RBI double against the San Diego Padres. AP Photo/Gregory Bull What has salvaged a terrible Mets season — as much as a terrible season can be salvaged — are the performances by their homegrown youngsters.
Christian Scott returned encouragingly after missing last season following Tommy John surgery, but especially the rookies Carson Benge, AJ Ewing, Nate Lavender, Nolan McLean and Zac Thornton have provided hope they can be part of the Mets bedrock moving forward. Benge and McLean are going to receive a lot of NL Rookie of the Year consideration and have provided the first steps of potential stardom. Ewing, Lavender and Thornton have indicated they will be at least complementary help, with the possibility of more than that.
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What was not expected is that we can say the same about the Yankees — that their homegrown youngsters have been the best part of a season in which they are heading back to the postseason.
Cam Schlittler had more of a 2025 cameo (78 regular season innings) than McLean (48) and, thus, lost his rookie status. But he is currently the frontrunner for the AL Cy Young. Ben Rice is likely to get some down-ballot MVP votes as he was top four in the AL in homers, RBIs, slugging and OPS in his second full major league season.
