It’s amazing to think that going into the 2017 season, Michael Conforto was the odd man out.
Conforto never complained. Never grumbled or moaned about the potential of starting the season at Triple-A Las Vegas or being relegated to a reserve role.
In a way, it shows what kind of player on and off the field Conforto really is. Resilient.
In traditional Mets fashion, the team began to experience injury after injury.
Curtis Granderson struggled from the onset and then went down Yoenis Cespedes.
There was no way the team could afford to not play Conforto, who as of May 2, has a batting average of .333 and an OPS of 1.108 with seven long balls, including one to lead off the ball game Monday night in Atlanta.
“Yesterday was frustrating,” Conforto said. “But we put it in the past. I think this group can move on from that and kind of rebound a little bit.”
Conforto, who struggled mightily in 2016 has shown thus far in 2017 that he can succeed and that his rookie campaign wasn’t a fluke.
And who would have thought? The 24-year-old’s career is seemingly not over after one mediocre campaign. Nuts.
Bottom line, the Mets are going to have to learn to survive without Cespedes and Noah Syndergaard whether they like it or not.
Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith aren’t coming to save us anytime soon either, so the success of the team is going to have to come from our current roster construction.
Should the Mets’ young outfielder continue his solid campaign, he will have solidified himself an everyday role even if and when the rest of the outfield is 100 percent healthy and rightfully so.
It just goes to show: hard work and patience pays off and Michael Conforto is a living example.
