Now that the All Star Game has come and gone and the non-waiver trade deadline is just two weeks away, Major League Baseball is in full pennant race mode. Teams are assessing their needs and targeting the players who could fulfill those needs. Given the state of the Mets offense, the team needs a bat more than anything. Fortunately for them, they don’t need to go outside the organization to acquire that player as the team is recalling Michael Conforto.
If Conforto is the player he is supposed to be, the player we’ve seen glimpses of, it’s doubtful any team could add a player who will have the impact he could have on the Mets.
When Conforto was called-up last year, he hit a respectable .270/.335/.506 with nine homers and 26 RBI in 56 games. Extrapolating that over a full 162 game season, Conforto would’ve had 26 homers and 75 RBI. Seeing Conforto over the course of the second half last year coupled with his play in the postseason, that seemed like it was his floor.
However, Conforto’s April seemed to justify everyone’s high expectations. Conforto jumped out of the gate hitting .365/.442/.676 with four homers and 18 RBI. He was on pace to hit 29 homers and 133 RBI. Those numbers may seem unrealistic in a player’s first full season, especially for a player who never played in AAA, but they didn’t for Conforto. He was that good of a hitter.
Conforto forced Terry Collins to move him up to the third spot in the order. He was clearly the team’s second best hitter behind only Yoenis Cespedes and it looked like Conforto was well on his way until disaster struck.
From May 1st on, Conforto would hit .148/.217/.303. He would only get eight hits in his last 75 at bats. Everyone had a theory as to what happened. Some blamed the platoon system getting him out of a rhythm. Others thought Madison Bumgarner dominated him and the rest of the Mets lineup got into his head. There was also the cortisone shot he needed in his wrist and his falling into bad habits at the plate. Whatever the case, he all but forced the Mets hands to demote him to the minor leagues.
To his credit, Conforto put the work in he needed to down in AAA, and he has seemingly returned to the player he was; the player we all thought he could be. During his first ever stint in AAA, Conforto hit .344/.420/.623 with three homers and 15 RBI in 16 games. While his manager Wally Backman did sit him against two lefties, Conforto did get at bats against lefties going 6-16 with three walks and four RBI. More importantly, Conforto got back to being more patient at the plate and using the whole field more.
Speaking of Backman, during his interview on MMO’s Talkin’ Mets last night, he said that Conforto was fixed, that his sweet swing is back, and that he was cautioned against any future changes to his stance and swing to increase his home run power.
“He became too pull happy. He’s not a guy that’s going to hit 30 home runs,” Wally told MMO. “He’s a guy who’s going to hit 15-20 home runs, drive in a hundred runs, and bat .300.”
Additionally, Conforto played some games in right field thereby giving Collins’ more outfield alignment options, which should hopefully ensure Juan Lagares never again steps foot in any position other than center field. It should also help Collins figure things out with Cespedes now stating he needs to play more left field with his injured quad.
Overall, Conforto has done what he needed to do in the minors. He’s ready to come back. He’s coming back at the right time too with Cespedes’ balky right leg and Brandon Nimmo struggling.
Conforto should be an even bigger boost to the Mets than he was last year. In fact, given what we’ve seen, given what he’s capable of doing, he will help the Mets more than any player any team adds to their major league roster prior to the trade deadline.
