In an attempt to jump start a sluggish offense, Mets manager Terry Collins made the decision to switch left fielder Michael Conforto from the sixth spot in the lineup to the No. 3 hole for the weekend series vs the Indians and it paid off in a huge way.
Conforto had two hits on Friday, including his first home run of 2016. Then on Sunday, he had two more hits and both hits drove in a run in the Mets 6-0 win. He finished 5-for-12 with three doubles, one home run and three RBIs during the three-game set, and ignited five different scoring rallies for the Mets.
Overall the Mets offense exploded for a total of 17 runs in the three contests at Cleveland, averaging 5.7 runs per game in that span.
According to Collins, for the time being Conforto will remain the No.3 hitter vs right-handed starting pitchers, but will still likely find himself on the bench against lefty pitching.
“I think that is where he’s going to end up hitting one of these days full time,” said Collins. “We thought he was swinging the bat good and we think he was getting on base so we thought it was time to put him there and see if he can springboard the offense and it paid off in this series.”
Conforto said that batting in front of Yoenis Cespedes could have helped matters. But Conforto has also been more selective as well.
“Most times when I’ve been getting up there lately it seems like it’s 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 (in the count) and that’s a good feeling at the plate,” said Conforto. “It’s been a good few days. I never had any nervousness about it – it just kind of felt natural, where I have been in college and through the minor leagues, so I felt pretty good there.”
Asked if it was intimidating to bat third in the lineup at the young age of 23, Conforto added:
“I wouldn’t say intimidating. I would say exciting. Anytime you’re in the heart of the lineup, in a spot where you can do some damage and drive in some runs, that’s really exciting. For me, it’s been that way. I never had any nervousness about it. It just kind of felt natural — kind of where I’ve been in college and through the minor leagues. I feel pretty good there.”
In 56 games with the Mets last season, Conforto batted .270 with 14 doubles, nine home runs, 30 runs scored and 26 RBI. Blessed with a fluid line drive swing with power to all fields, Conforto put up an impressive .506 slugging percentage with a .360 wOBA and 134 wRC+ in 194 plate appearances.
His .841 OPS ranked second on the team behind only Yoenis Cespedes, and his 2.1 fWAR ranked 6th despite playing less than half the season.
Our executive editor Joe D. said this in his preview for Conforto while predicting he’d be the team’s three hitter by mid-season:
“It’s possible that the league adjusts to Conforto next season, but he looks like a player that is very mindful of that and will continue to keep getting better. I won’t be surprised to see him build off this season and hit .290 with 20-25 homeruns and 85+ RBI in 2016. He’s an extremely talented player, and he certainly has the ability to shatter expectations once again.”
“Let me go out on a limb here and say that there’s a good chance we can see Conforto post a better OPS, OPS+ and wRC+ than Yoenis Cespedes next season. Crazy talk? You just wait and see and remember you read that here first.”
So far, Conforto is doing just that.
