It took six days of the Mets playing shorthanded to come to terms with the reality that outfielder Michael Conforto needed a stint on the disabled list.
Conforto, 24, was struck on his left hand by a pitch from Matt Moore on Sunday, June 25 during the Mets series finale in San Francisco.
The outfielder was in noticeable pain and exited the game, but x-rays came back negative.
Regardless, the bone bruise the outfielder was diagnosed with proved to be too difficult to play through, as Conforto landed himself on the disabled list prior to Saturday afternoon’s bout with the Phillies.
“You never want to be on the DL,” Conforto said. “I wish I could be out there with these guys. We’re playing well right now and I definitely wish I could be out there, but I don’t want it to be a situation where it lingers.”
Zack Wheeler was activated on Saturday and Conforto was the roster casualty, now sidelined until July 8 (with the move being retroactive to June 28), but more likely until after the All-Star break.
“I think all these games leading up to the All-Star break are very important,” Conforto said. “It’s a bummer I have to miss the Nationals series. Those are always awesome series to be a part of. But I definitely hope I can be there in St. Louis.”
Though Conforto was having a rough go of things in June (22 games, .206/.383/.317 slash line), the outfielder’s presence in the lineup will be missed.
Despite the brutal last three weeks, Conforto has slashed .285/.405/.548 with 14 long balls and 41 RBI across 69 games for the Mets in 2017.
“A little tight, still sore,” Conforto said of his hand. “It’s just bruised up pretty good. The swings that I’ve taken, it just kind of feels there’s still some inflammation in there. It’s just a bad bruise. Good thing is there’s nothing broken.”
While Conforto had the wherewithal to remain on the sidelines after bruising his hand instead of fabricating the injury, the Mets wasted far too much time putting him on the disabled list.
Six days is a long time to wait to decide whether or not a player can labor through the injury they have suffered. It’s just a good thing that Conforto didn’t play through it and hurt it even more.
With Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce hot right now and Yoenis Cespedes always a threat when healthy, there’s no need to rush Conforto back – from his side or the organization’s side.
The All-Star break is right around the corner and rushing him back would just be silly.
Hopefully the extra rest will allow Conforto to ease back into taking some swings and get back out there when he’s 100 percent.
