The New York Mets are off on Monday, and they probably could use a quick breather after the highest of highs (sweeping the Cleveland Indians) and the lowest of lows (getting swept by the Atlanta Braves) to start a crucial homestand. Manager Mickey Callaway‘s club has gone on an incredible run to be in the playoff hunt as the calendar prepares to flip to September, and a lot of players are responsible for that.

Between Amed Rosario‘s second-half surge and Pete Alonso tying the franchise home-run record, it’s easy to gloss over the kind of season Michael Conforto is having. At just 26 years old, the outfielder has become a vital piece of New York’ offensive unit, and especially lately since most of his days have been spent hitting in the second, third, or (most recently) fourth spot in the order.

He’s had his ups and downs in recent years, whether it be his injury toward the end of 2017 or the slow start he endured in 2018. However, he’s ended up being rather consistent throughout his short career, and even more so when looking at his numbers since that first All-Star campaign in 2017. Conforto is on track for his third straight season of at least 3.0 fWAR and has already secured his third straight year of 25-plus homers (and is gunning for his first one with 30-plus). With a little more than a month left in the regular season, he sure seems on pace to set new single-season career highs in both runs scored and RBI (70 and 76 at the moment, respectively).

And this has all been accomplished while keeping his wRC+ above 120 for the third straight year, along with being on the verge of producing his lowest strikeout rate (22.2%) since he was a rookie in 2015 (20.1%).

Earlier this month, Scooter became the second-fastest player in franchise history to reach the 100-homer plateau:

That blast also put him in this rather exclusive franchise-specific list:

That last part of Jacob’s tweet is very true. It’s hard to believe that someone who hasn’t even celebrated his 27th birthday yet could be one of the organization’s best all-time players, but he’s getting there and hasn’t taken much time to do so.

Conforto entered 2019 with 10.3 career fWAR, which had already put him just outside the top-10 outfielders in franchise history. But with the 2.7 he’s already accumulated this season, that career number jumps up to eighth overall, passing Lee Mazzilli and Curtis Granderson. Here’s how the top seven currently look:

Player fWAR
Darryl Strawberry 35.5
Carlos Beltran 29.3
Cleon Jones 18.1
Mookie Wilson 17.4
Kevin McReynolds 15.1
Tommie Agee 14.9
Lenny Dykstra 14.0

If Conforto finishes 2019 strong and stays consistent into next year, it’s not out of the question to see him take up residence in the top four by the time 2020 is officially in the books. That’d be awfully impressive for someone at his age. It’s not just fWAR that has him among the best in franchise history, either.

Although he’ll soon pass Granderson in games played, the left-handed slugger’s 547 games played is the second fewest among the top 10, with only Dykstra (544) appearing in less. Conforto’s 103 homers rank sixth when looking at Mets outfielders, his 294 RBI rank as one of the top 15, and his 124 career wRC+ ranks fifth overall. The only four ahead of him in that category? That’d be Strawberry (143), Yoenis Cespedes (137), Beltran (127), and Bobby Bonilla (126, and yes, really).

While the Mets are on the verge of getting multiple 4.0 fWAR performances in the same season for the first time since 2008 thanks to Alonso and Jeff McNeil, Conforto is right behind them in the team fWAR standings. It’s a similar spot to where he stood last year, which was second behind Brandon Nimmo‘s breakout campaign. It’s this kind of consistency that’ll allow him to continue climbing franchise leaderboards in short order, and he’s just the kind of player needed as the veteran anchor for this current era of (hopefully) consistently competitive Mets teams.