No longer a rookie that Mets fans clamored to see arrive in the big leagues, Michael Conforto has already made his mark in the majors. The entire league has begun to take notice. In an article for the New York Post, columnist Kevin Kernan spoke with scouts around the league, who all agreed the secret is out on Conforto.
The 23-year-old sweet swinging, left-handed, left fielder, has been a large part of the offense for the New York Mets since being called up to the majors. Conforto is already drawing comparisons to other big time left-handed bats, as many wonder how good of a player he may become.
“Is he a young Barry Bonds, without as much power?” a talent evaluator asked after studying Conforto. “But he might show more power as time goes on.”
He only has 75 major league games under his belt, but he has put up some impressive numbers. He owns a career .289/.362/.897 slash line with 23 doubles, 12 homers and 39 RBI.
So far on the season, he has produced great numbers, owning a .338/.429/1.044 slash line. He has hit three homers, while knocking in 13 runs in just 19 games played. He has helped to catapult this offense since moving permanently into the number three hole in the lineup. The young star is taking all of his recent success in stride.
“You have to keep yourself on an even keel and not ride the roller coaster,” Conforto said. “Just try to go up there with the same mentality every single time and get a good pitch to hit, and I ended up coming through on the fourth try.”
Conforto has been earning accolades from all over the major leagues, as scouts have seemed to fall in love with his game. An AL scout who recently saw him play had nothing but great praise for the Mets’ new offensive star.
“Nothing seems to faze him,” the scout said. “I would play him every day, with maybe the exception of when you are facing Clayton Kershaw or a few other guys. He’s a good-looking young hitter. He’s got a good idea of the strike zone. For skipping Triple-A, it was a pretty advanced approach when you saw him.”
Conforto has begun to prove he can also handle left-handed pitching. In a small sample size this year he is 3-for-10 with two RBI against southpaws. The more he sees them, the better he will surely get. He is not the type of hitter who is an automatic out against LHP, instead he’s getting better at figuring them out.
Concerto’s baseball knowledge is uncanny for a player of his age. He is a great situational hitter who has seemed to have great baseball smarts. When runners are in scoring position, he has shown a knack of doing what needs to be done to get the run in.
“You have to be up in those situations, maybe there is some luck there, you can’t get the job done every time, but I think it’s a skill,” Conforto said. “You see guys who over the course of their careers they have better numbers than others in those situations, so I think some guys handle those pressure situations better than others.”
New York Mets legend, Keith Hernandez has been known to swoon over Conforto in the broadcasting booth and has nothing but great things to say about what could be the future face of not just the offense, but this franchise.
“He’s a classic No. 3 hitter,” Hernandez said. “The question is, how good will he be? He is a natural hitter — the first natural hitter for the Mets since John Olerud. Emphasis on ‘natural’.”
In the offseason Conforto worked hard on being able to take balls to the opposite field and it has proven to have worked in his favor this far.
“I worked on being able to stay back and put an offspeed pitch the other way, and I put myself through those situations,” Conforto said. “You can put your mind in that state, just by imagining you’re up there with a runner on second, a runner on third, with less than two outs. You can have those reps in the offseason, and it’s something I worked on in the offseason and it’s definitely paying off.”
In another NY Post article, even the New York Mets’ newest Hall of Famer, Mike Piazza, sees greatness in Conforto’s future. It was Piazza who selected Conforto for the Mets with the 10th pick in the 2014 draft.
“I saw him in spring training. I said, ‘Don’t forget, I drafted you. The other scouts wanted another guy, but I knew you were Italian, so we drafted you,’ ” Piazza joked.
“I knew about him at the draft. A scout told me this guy can hit. When I saw the film of him, I knew he had a really nice swing,” Piazza said. “I think the Mets should be extremely pleased with his progress. He’s really accelerated and developed a lot quicker than people thought he would, and turned into a really good run producer. So that’s great news.”
The sky is the limit for Conforto. He has all the skills necessary to be one of the better players in this league for years to come. There is no reason to believe he will not carry this offense for years into the future.
