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Will Benson

Will Benson

27-Year-Old OutfielderOF
Cincinnati Reds
2025 Stats
AVG
.226
HR
12
RBI
41
R
31
SB
2
2026 Projections
AVG
HR
RBI
R
SB
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2026 Fantasy Outlook
Benson began the 2025 season in the minors, logging just four at-bats with the big club over the first month-plus. After being recalled in May, Benson caught fire across a four-game stretch, hitting .533 with five of his 12 homers for the season. He then slumped to a .196/.238/.314 line over his subsequent 52 games, with the Reds demoting him again in August. The outfielder returned that same month and worked his way back into semi-regular playing time by the end of the campaign, logging a couple plate appearances in the wild-card round. The lefty slugger has now reached double-digit homers in three consecutive seasons, but he put the brakes on the running game last season, stealing only a couple bags after swiping 16 the year prior. An impressive athlete, Benson continues to tantalize with his batted-ball numbers from the left side of the plate. His strikeout rate was way down from previous seasons, but Benson still has a lot of swing and miss in his game. He will have to fend off competition and secure a platoon role in Cincinnati with a strong showing in spring training. Read Past Outlooks
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League Majors
Bats L
Throws L
40 Man Yes
Height 6'5"
Weight 225
DOB 6/16/1998
Born Atlanta, GA
College None
Drafted 1st Rd 2016 CLE
Signed a one-year, $1.725 million contract with the Reds in January of 2026.
Settles with Reds
OFCincinnati Reds
January 8, 2026
The Reds and Benson avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $1.725 million contract Thursday, Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
Analysis
Benson had been arbitration-eligible for the first time. The 27-year-old slashed .226/.273/.435 with 12 long balls over 90 contests for the Reds in 2025. He could open the 2026 season as the Reds' left fielder against right-handed pitching, though he will have competition for playing time.
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Batting Stats
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2025 MLB Game Log
2025
2024
2023
2022
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
8
15
12
21
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
2
2
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+52%
OPS vs RHP
2025
Even Split
2024
 
 
+29%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+135%
OPS vs RHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023vs Left .509 136 10 3 13 4 .145 .244 .265
Since 2023vs Right .773 834 113 34 102 33 .240 .314 .459
2025vs Left .709 21 3 2 4 0 .118 .238 .471
2025vs Right .708 232 28 10 37 2 .235 .276 .432
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
More Splits→ View More Split Stats
Minor League Splits→ View Minor League Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+6%
OPS at Home
2025
 
 
+34%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+8%
OPS at Home
2023
 
 
+5%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023Home .760 491 62 25 69 15 .221 .302 .457
Since 2023Away .714 479 61 12 46 22 .233 .307 .407
2025Home .788 149 19 8 28 2 .261 .302 .486
2025Away .589 104 12 4 13 0 .174 .231 .359
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
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
0.24
 
BB Rate
6.3%
 
K Rate
26.5%
 
BABIP
.255
 
ISO
.209
 
AVG
.226
 
OBP
.273
 
SLG
.435
 
OPS
.708
 
wOBA
.303
 
Exit Velocity
92.4 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
37.9%
 
Barrels/PA
10.3%
 
Expected BA
.264
 
Expected SLG
.495
 
Sprint Speed
25.3 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
36.1%
 
Line Drive %
20.7%
 
Fly Ball %
43.2%
 
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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Reds Depth Chart
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2025
2024
2023
2020
2018
2017
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.
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.
More Fantasy News
Sitting Saturday
OFCincinnati Reds
September 27, 2025
Benson isn't part of the starting lineup for Saturday's game against Milwaukee.
Analysis
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Out of Cincinnati lineup
OFCincinnati Reds
September 26, 2025
Benson is absent from the lineup for Friday's contest in Milwaukee.
Analysis
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Filling in at left field
OFCincinnati Reds
September 24, 2025
Benson started in left field and went 0-for-3 in Tuesday's 4-2 loss to the Pirates.
Analysis
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Fills in at center field
OFCincinnati Reds
September 18, 2025
Benson started in center field and went 0-for-5 in Wednesday's 6-2 win over St. Louis.
Analysis
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Sitting after three straight starts
OFCincinnati Reds
September 15, 2025
Benson is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Cardinals.
Analysis
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Top NL player last week
OFCincinnati Reds
May 19, 2025
Benson was named the National League Player of the Week on Monday.
Analysis
Benson has homered in each of his last four games, and for the week he went 10-for-19 with one steal, five runs scored, five home runs and 10 RBI. Jake Fraley is close from returning from the 10-day injured list, but Benson should continue to see plenty of playing time in right field in a strong-side platoon.
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