It’s easy to forget how awesome Michael Conforto‘s 2017 season was for several reasons.

For starters, it ended with him writhing in pain on the ground with a dislocated shoulder, a crashing hault to his breakout campaign. Another was how the Mets season devolved into irrelevance. But in many ways, Conforto was, and still is, a rising star.

The 24-year old slashed .279/.384/.555 with a .392 wOBA and 146 wRC+ over 440 plate appearances prior to his injury in August.

There are only two players in Mets history who had a higher wOBA than Conforto did in a single season at age 24 or younger: Darryl Strawberry and David Wright, the latter of which did it twice. In regards to Mets history, that is some strong company to be with.

Conforto ranked 14th in wRC+ in all of Major League Baseball among everyone with 400 plate appearances in 2017. He ranked seventh in wRC+ among outfielders and was third among all center fielder in wRC+ behind just Tommy Pham and Mike Trout.

Trout, Pham, and Charlie Blackmon were the only center fielders with a higher wOBA and OBP than Conforto in his third year of play.

Conforto is an elite offensive outfielder and Fangraphs ranked him as the third best center fielder in all of baseball for this year.

There’s nothing to indicate that Conforto was just lucky in his breakout season. Conforto posted a .577 wOBA on fly balls and a .818 wOBA on line drives.

His exit velocity on fly balls and line drives was a stout 95.3 MPH, which was good for 35th out of 387 in Major League Baseball players among hitters who hit at least 100 balls into play. So the fact he hits the ball so hard in the air is certainly a reason to think his performance on “air balls” is sustainable.

There are concerns about Conforto in center field, but he definitely has the tools to hold his own out there.

His sprint speed is 27.6 feet-per-second which is slightly above average for center fielders in baseball. His sprint speed is better than Adam Jones, Joc Pederson, and Odubel Herrera. Of course, sprint speed is not everything, but being reasonably fast in center and having good defensive positioning should help Conforto. He could be a modest or average defender in center, which is more than fine giving the impact of his bat.

Add to the fact that he is just 25 and is only improving from here on in and there is a lot to be excited about.

The only real concern is whether his shoulder injury will linger with him long-term. So far, given his quick rehab and solid reports from the minor league camp, it would appear that his power and bat speed might still be the same.

Of course, many fans become skeptical when it comes to propping up their own players, but feel good, Mets fans. Conforto by all means is a rising star in Major League Baseball and his return will be a huge boost to this team both on and off the field.