Fifteen months ago, Michael Conforto had completed his junior year at Oregon State University. In a matter of days, he will participate in his first MLB postseason game.
Conforto told me before Sunday’s 1-0 win over the Nationals that being called up so soon after being drafted has “accelerated” his development. Now nearly on the eve of the NLDS, the 22-year old Mets rookie said he cannot wait for the playoffs to get started.
“I am really, really excited to get into playoff baseball,” he said. “It’s why we play the game. You want to be in the playoffs and play in the most exciting games at the end and be on the right track to win the World Series, we’ve got a shot. So I’m excited to see how things play out in L.A.”
The 22-year old left fielder debuted on July 24 at Citi Field against the Dodgers, starting all three games of the series. Based off of what he witnessed in that series, Conforto said he draws parallels in how both the Mets and Dodgers were constructed.
“Obviously they’re a solid club, they can swing it, they can play defense, they have really, really good pitchers,” he said. “We know it’s going to be a battle. The blueprint is kind of the same for our team.”
Conforto reached base seven of 12 times up at-bat in that Dodgers series, the most painful addition to his on-base percentage coming on a bases-loaded plunk from Zack Grienke, who the Mets will almost certainly face in Game 1 or 2 of the NLDS.
He said the key to success against the Dodgers’ powerful right-hander is simply to stick to the game plan they’ve had all season.
“We’ve got to take disciplined at-bats and not get away from ourselves,” he said. “Stick to our plan and have quality at-bats, and we’ll be fine.”
Finishing the year with a .270/.335/.506 slash as well as nine homers and 26 RBIs in just 56 games, Conforto will be looked to as an integral bat in the Mets first postseason berth since 2006.
Keep checking back over the course of the week as I’ll have more from Conforto along with interviews with Curtis Granderson, Michael Cuddyer and Kevin Plawecki who recap the regular season and comment on the upcoming Division Series.
