Will Benson

26-Year-Old OutfielderOF

Cincinnati Reds

2024 Stats

AVG

.187

RBI

2025 Projections

AVG

RBI

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2025 Fantasy Outlook

Benson is an easy player to root for, but likability doesn't pay the bills in Major League Baseball. The clock is ticking and the pressure is on after Benson struck out 40 percent of the time and posted the worst xBA among qualified hitters last season. He showed signs of growth down the stretch in 2023, but the improvements did not stick. Benson hit below .200 in four separate months of the 2024 campaign, never hitting above .220 in any month, and former Reds manager David Bell did nobody any favors by continuing to start him against righties. Still just 26, Benson is a good athlete with immense raw power, but it's unlikely that Cincinnati will put up with that level of swing and miss again in 2025. Read Past Outlooks

RANKS

From Preseason

#423

ADP

League Majors

Bats L

Throws L

40 Man Yes

Height 6'5"

Weight 215

DOB 6/16/1998

Born Atlanta, GA

College None

Drafted 1st Rd 2016 CLE

Swipes another bag

OFCincinnati Reds

September 22, 2024

Benson went 1-for-4 with a stolen base and a run scored in Saturday's 7-1 win over the Pirates.

ANALYSIS
Benson, who has started just five of 19 games this month, was in the starting lineup for a second straight contest. He singled, stole second base and waltzed home on an Elly De La Cruz home run. The stolen base was Benson's second in as many games and upped his season total to 16.

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Batting Stats

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2024

2023

2022

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2023 MLB Game Log

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2022 MLB Game Log

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Minor League Game Log

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Batting Order Slot Breakdown

vs Right-Handed Pitchers

vs RHP

vs Left-Handed Pitchers

vs LHP

Left/Right Batting Splits

Since 2022

+67%

OPS vs RHP

2024

+29%

OPS vs RHP

2023

+135%

OPS vs RHP

2022

+187%

OPS vs RHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2022vs Left	.461	121	9	1	9	4	.143	.242	.219
Since 2022vs Right	.771	657	91	24	68	31	.238	.323	.448
2024vs Left	.526	71	3	1	7	3	.153	.271	.254
2024vs Right	.676	317	38	13	36	13	.194	.274	.401
2023vs Left	.400	44	4	0	2	1	.146	.205	.195
2023vs Right	.938	285	47	11	29	18	.297	.389	.549
2022vs Left	.167	6	2	0	0	0	.000	.167	.000
2022vs Right	.479	55	6	0	3	0	.200	.259	.220
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Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2022

+4%

OPS on Road

2024

+8%

OPS at Home

2023

+5%

OPS on Road

2022

+22%

OPS on Road

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2022Home	.710	385	47	17	42	13	.197	.295	.415
Since 2022Away	.737	393	53	8	35	22	.249	.326	.411
2024Home	.675	192	24	9	24	5	.178	.272	.402
2024Away	.626	196	17	5	19	11	.195	.276	.351
2023Home	.840	150	19	8	17	8	.234	.340	.500
2023Away	.882	179	32	3	14	11	.308	.385	.497
2022Home	.422	43	4	0	1	0	.158	.238	.184
2022Away	.513	18	4	0	2	0	.235	.278	.235
More Splits→	View More Split Stats

Stat Review

How does Will Benson compare to other hitters?

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.

BB/K
Walk to strikeout ratio
BB Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
K Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
BABIP
Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
ISO
Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
AVG
Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
OBP
On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
SLG
Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
OPS
On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
wOBA
Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
Exit Velocity
The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
Hard Hit Rate
A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
Barrels/PA
The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
Expected BA
Expected Batting Average.
Expected SLG
Expected Slugging Percentage.
Sprint Speed
The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
Ground Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
Line Drive %
The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
Fly Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.

BB/K

0.26

BB Rate

10.3%

K Rate

39.7%

BABIP

.282

ISO

.190

AVG

.187

OBP

.274

SLG

.376

OPS

.650

wOBA

.288

Exit Velocity

89.4 mph

Hard Hit Rate

34.9%

Barrels/PA

5.7%

Expected BA

.180

Expected SLG

.333

Sprint Speed

24.9 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

36.3%

Line Drive %

19.5%

Fly Ball %

44.2%

Prospect Rankings History

View Complete Will Benson Prospect Ranking History

Advanced Batting Stats

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Additional Stats

Games By Position

Defensive Stats

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Batted Ball Stats

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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers

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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Will Benson See More

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113 days ago

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The Z Files: What It Takes

134 days ago

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140 days ago

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Lineup Lowdown: National League

155 days ago

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Weekly Hitter Rankings: Capital Gains

165 days ago

With seven home games, Washington Nationals hitters like CJ Abrams top Todd Zola's hitter rankings for the Week of August 5 to August 11.

Past Fantasy Outlooks

2024

2023

2020

2018

2017

Something clicked for Benson during his five-week stint in the minors in April and May. A first-round pick in 2016, he made changes to cut down on his whiffs in 2022, but it wasn't enough to convince Cleveland as the Guardians traded traded him across state to Cincinnati just before spring training. While those aforementioned changes did not pay immediate dividends at the major-league level, Benson put everything together with Triple-A Louisville and would go on to be one of the Reds' best hitters over the final four months of the season. From May 30 on, Benson hit .296/.389/.542 with 34 extra-base hits -- including eight triples -- to go along with 19 steals in 22 attempts. It was a remarkable turnaround, but Benson is a strict platoon player for manager David Bell and the stickiness of his plate-skill improvements is still in question. The 25-year-old had over 300 plate appearances following his return to the majors, but that's not enough of a sample to draw any definitive conclusions.

Benson made his major-league debut in 2022, but he was limited to a reserve role for much of his time with the Guardians. A lackluster .182/.250/.200 slash line over 61 plate appearances contributed to his minimal playing time, as did the Guardians' fairly steady outfield. That lineup logjam won't clear to begin 2023, so Benson is going to have to earn his at-bats. His work in the minors -- .275/.424/.516 slash line, 17 home runs, 16 stolen bases in 89 Triple-A games last year -- is encouraging. He's got the potential to be a useful power/speed threat, but he probably won't hit all that consistently. If his glove is good enough, he could at least challenge Myles Straw for playing time in center field, where Benson would have the platoon advantage.

Benson hit .180 at Low-A in 2018 and hit .189 at High-A to close out 2019. In between, he slashed .272/.371/.604 with a 172 wRC+ as a 20-year-old at Low-A. He had a .332 ISO in the Midwest League, showing off his top tool -- 70-grade power. He also has at least above-average speed, racking up 27 steals on 31 attempts across the two stops. Even at his worst, Benson walks at least 12% of the time, so a high strikeout rate isn't a death sentence for him, as he proved while he was the Midwest League's best hitter in the first half last year (30.1 K%). The last time he repeated a level, he took that league by storm. He will try to reprise that feat this year in the Carolina League. Of all the tooled-up outfield prospects who probably won't hit enough to be big-league regulars, Benson may have the highest upside, and unlike many, his tools have actually showed up in games above rookie ball.

Nothing has changed regarding Benson's ceiling, which is still among the highest in the minors. He fell to the Indians with the No. 14 pick in 2016 because of widespread concerns about his hit tool, and so far those concerns have been validated. Consider, however, that he hit .238 and struck out 33.9 percent of the time and was still the fifth best hitter (146 wRC+) in the New York-Penn League. This speaks to his prodigious raw power (he led the league with 10 home runs and a .238 ISO) and his patience (13.1 percent walk rate). He was also the youngest hitter in the league, and won't turn 20 until June. Benson is a good runner for his size (6-foot-5, 225 pounds), but he is unlikely to be much of a threat on the bases when he reaches the majors. Even when he is struggling, he demonstrates good body language and reportedly has an excellent work ethic, so there are reasons to believe that this is a player who will continue to improve each season.

One could argue Benson has the most upside from the entire 2016 draft class. The potential for plus-plus power and average speed was enough for the Indians to pop him with the No. 14 pick, despite significant questions about his hit tool. Benson is a 6-foot-5, 225-pound giant of a man, and yet he is barely a man -- he will not turn 19 until June. It is possible, however, that the physical dimensions that make his power potential so intriguing will also prevent him from ever actualizing that power against upper-level pitching. His long levers and musclebound upper body currently prevent him from making consistent contact. He hit .209 and struck out 32.6 percent of the time in the Arizona League, but was still an above-average hitter (112 wRC+) thanks to his power (.215 ISO) and patience (12 percent walk rate). Benson is a lottery ticket, plain and simple. It is unlikely that he will reach the majors before 2021, even under the best circumstances.

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