Michael Conforto‘s season, as we all know by now, was a terrible disappointment for much of the first half, with the organization fearing that last year’s shoulder surgery was forcing him to lose his power stroke and wondering whether or not he would ever be the same again.
However, he has had a resurgence in the second half, thus far, hitting .288 (34-118) with seven home runs, 21 RBI, and seven doubles in 31 games since the All-Star break.
Last night was just another example of that for him as he went 1-for-4 with a home run (a three-run shot) and four RBI (tying a career-high) against the San Francisco Giants.
Impressively, the home run came against a left-hander, Tony Watson, in the bottom the eighth inning with the Mets winning by a score of 3-2.
Conforto, 25, has a knack for hitting against the Giants in his career, as he is 15-36 (.417) when facing off against them.
One thing to be encouraged about by this season, though, is his newfound ability to hit same-handed pitchers, who he actually has produced better against than right-handers.
Against southpaws, Conforto is hitting .250/.326/.450 with six homers and 17 RBI in 120 at-bats while he is hitting .232/.358/.396 with 12 home runs and 34 RBI in 285 at-bats against right-handers. Last year, he hit a mere .212 against lefties so that is a very good sign for him.
Furthermore, the outfielder is actually 16th in all of baseball with 66 walks this season, which already gives him nine more walks than he had all of last season, which is a good sign.
With next season having a cloudy picture for the organization, to say the least, the Mets are hoping that they are getting the Michael Conforto from 2017 that hit .279/.384/.555 with 27 home runs and 68 RBI.
The last month’s worth of games is showing that Conforto is here to stay and might be better now than ever before.
