All Michael Conforto has ever known is the New York Mets.
Taken in the first round of the 2014 draft, he was one of the Mets’ most exciting players when he came up in 2015 and helped the team to a World Series appearance. He had all the makings of a star, franchise cornerstone player.
Six years later, Conforto’s career thus far has been an interesting one to digest. And it’s very well possible that he’s played his last game in the orange and blue.
Even just deciding if Conforto’s career has lived up to the hype or been a disappointment is a question that makes you think for a second. He’s certainly had his moments. He posted ~4 fWAR seasons in 2017 and 2019, and hit a career-high .322 with a 158 wRC+ in the shortened 2020 season. He smashed 83 home runs from 2017-2019.
If this is the end of the line for Conforto, though, his Mets career went out with a whimper. In a season where a lot of things went wrong for a team with playoff aspirations, Conforto posted a measly 0.8 fWAR. He was still a slightly above average hitter with a 106 wRC+, but that’s a far cry from his 158 mark in 2020, 147 in 2017, or even his career average of 124.
The question now is what his future holds. A source told Metsmerized on Thursday that the Mets will offer Conforto a qualifying offer, but he won’t accept it and he’ll become a free agent.
The reaction among Mets fans to this news seems to be a mixed one. On one hand, Conforto has built a connection to this team over the years — the only major league team he’s ever known — and provided plenty of joyous and exciting moments. You can point to shortcomings here and there, but all told, there really is no denying that Conforto has been a super solid Met, even if he’s no Mike Trout.
Despite his obvious merits, Conforto having his worst season in his walk year isn’t going to do him any favors. But even at the very least, he’s 28 years old and an above-average hitter who’s shown flashes of stardom. He would be an asset to any team, and it’s easy to see some club taking a big gamble on him — especially a team looking to rebuild itself into a contender.
The Mets, of course, could still certainly be that team. In fact, there may be no other team that has as high an opinion on Conforto as the Mets do. Conforto could easily become a Met for life, and judging by his emotional walkout in the last game of the regular season, he would likely be interested in doing so.
Regardless of where Conforto ends up, though, it’s important to appreciate what he brought to the Mets while he was here. Instead of focusing on his underwhelming 2021 campaign, Mets fans should appreciate the fact that the Mets developed a fantastic, home-grown young player. Just a little over a year after he was drafted, he was already playing in World Series games for this team. Conforto also made it to the Wild Card game with them in 2016, and his strong 2019 season helped them to finish 10 games over .500, despite missing the playoffs.
Conforto has been an integral part of the Mets since 2015. And still at just 28 years old, his best years could very well be yet to come. The bottom line is, Mets fans, no matter what: Appreciate Michael Conforto.
