When players are drafted, it’s often difficult to see what the future holds for them. For every Mike Trout there’s a Lastings Milledge and for every Matt Harvey there’s a Mark Prior. Predicting baseballs future has become a huge industry and no one ever knows for sure. One post on Bleacher Report listed Michael Conforto as the fourth-best left fielder currently in the minor leagues.
Conforto’s experience playing at Oregon State puts him further along than some other Mets prospects drafted before him, including Brandon Nimmo.
“He’s a very advanced offensive player,” Paul DePodesta told John DeMarzo of the New York Post back in August.
“He has a tremendously mature approach at the plate, where it really fits with our organizational philosophy. He looks to do damage and has the discipline to wait for those pitches. It’s rare to find in an amateur player, somebody who not only does it, but has a real understanding of it.”
“It’s just rare to see that kind of selectivity in somebody that is so young,” Brooklyn Cyclones manager Tom Gamboa told Mike Vorkunov of the Star-Ledger. “Everything we had heard — he was one of the top college hitters in the country — has proved to be true in pro ball.”
“I don’t think that future is all that far away,” Gamboa adds.
What is most encouraging about Conforto is that his minor league numbers were not all that different from his career numbers at Oregon. In three years, Conforto hit .340/.463/.557/.1020 at Oregon, adding 31 career home runs in 668 at-bats.This past year with the Cyclones, Conforto hit .331/.403/.448/.851 with three home runs in 163 at-bats.
It’s clear that Conforto has a ton of potential and he’s quickly becoming the prospect that I’m most interested in heading into 2015.
