The New York Mets offense has simply been bad. When you take a look at the team stats for all Major League clubs this season, the Mets offensive ranks are mostly trending at the bottom of the pile, except for home runs. Their inability to score with runners in scoring position with less than two outs has been abysmal. Injuries have piled up. Guys haven’t been pulling their weight.
One such player that I didn’t think was going to go through such a prolonged slump this year is left-fielder Michael Conforto. Coming off such a great rookie campaign, most Met fans assumed that he’d be getting a chance to play everyday, including against lefties. Many felt that he’d become the eventual number three hitter, and that happened in mid-April, and with immediate success.
However, since the calendar turned to May, Conforto has taken a nose dive offensively. Take a look at his April numbers, in 74 at-bats, Conforto batted .365/.442/.676, with four home runs, 18 runs batted in, along with nine walks. Fantastic numbers to open the 2016 season with, which coincided with the Mets going 16-7 in the month of April.
Fast forward to May, where the regression began. For the month of May, Conforto had 83 at-bats, and batted .169/.242/.349, he did swat another four home runs, but had only six runs batted in, and saw his strikeouts almost double from 15 in April to 26 in May.
And now through the first ten games of June, Conforto is off to yet another rocky start, batting .114/.154/.229, with one home run, five runs batted in, and already 13 strikeouts.
Now it is normal for second year players to go through sophomore slumps. No one was expecting Conforto to hit .320 with 30 plus home runs and 110 runs batted in this year. The curious matter is that Conforto started the year off so dominantly, what transpired in May and June to see such a complete 180 take place?
Have the scouting reports for the opposing teams helped neutralize Conforto? Is he pressing at the plate during a time where the Mets are down several key middle of the order bats in David Wright, Lucas Duda, and Travis d’Arnaud? Is it simply growing pains, and Conforto is taking his lumps at an inopportune time when the Mets desperately need offense?
Or maybe it has to do in part with the lingering left wrist issue he’s been dealing, however, it was only recently reported that he was dealing with this ailment, so it doesn’t explain his issues in early May. And when pressed on the matter, Conforto asserted that the left wrist pain doesn’t interfere with his swing.
Manager Terry Collins spoke about Conforto and his wrist before he left for the hospital on Sunday after feeling ill.
“He’s got a little bit of a wrist issue that’s been bothering him,” said Collins, who subsequently required a hospital trip because he felt ill. “He said it doesn’t really bother him swinging. He’s scuffling enough that I thought I’d let him have today and tomorrow to catch his breath.”
While I fully suspect Conforto to bounce back and find his groove again, it is puzzling to see a guy that was praised and lauded for having such a key eye at the plate, and mature approach at such a young age, to be struggling this much, and this far into the season. Especially after the way he got off to his torrid start in April, it seemed Conforto was on his way to an All Star season.
A little over a week ago, Conforto did admit that he felt he was pressing at the plate, and needed to work on getting back to a simpler approach at the plate.
“I think I am pressing a little bit and I think I need to take a deep breath and get back to what was working,” Conforto said. “That just starts with hard work and feeling confident.” (NY Post)
Taking a look at FanGraphs and their plate discipline section, it seems that Conforto is not making the same type of contact he once was at pitches outside the strike zone. While his O-Swing%, which is the percentage of pitches swung outside the strike zone, is about the same as it was last season, his O-Contact%, which is the percent of times he makes contact when swinging outside the zone is way down this year, at 55.3%, compared to 61.4% in 2015.
So the question is, what do the Mets do with him? If they want to upgrade offensively, there are very few positions they can do that at, that aren’t already taken or have an injured player coming back to reclaim it. And unless more injuries were to hit the Mets, it seems hard to find spots to upgrade offensively in.
Would the Mets think about demoting Conforto to Triple A Las Vegas if the struggles continue? Can they afford to keep penciling his name into the lineup if he’s not being a middle of the order force and driving in runs? The Mets are in a win now state, and can’t keep running guys out there to work out their troubles at the plate, especially when it seems that more than half the Mets lineup isn’t doing much these past few weeks. That said, the Mets are committed to letting Conforto battle through this extended slump.
Assistant GM John Ricco spoke on the topic of potentially sending Conforto down to the minors, to work out his struggles without such constant noise and pressure on his at-bats.
“He’s a young player who has only been up for less than a year,” assistant general manager John Ricco said this week. “So to say that he’s up here for good no matter what happens? No. That’s always in the back of your mind. But that’s not what we’re thinking.” (Newsday)
“Right now, the best place to be for him and us is here,” Ricco reiterated on Sunday. “We’re still in the mode of ‘He’s going to play his way out of this.’ ”
More than likely Collins will continue to run Conforto out there to face right handed pitching, hoping that he’ll eventually break this prolonged slump and become the sweet-swinging line drive hitter Met fans were accustomed to seeing upon his arrival last summer. While you hate to see any of the guys slumping for such a lengthy time, you feel for the young 23 year-old because he arrived with such fanfare last season, had instant success, and was instantly revered among the Citi faithful.
Conforto was examined by team doctors on Monday for his wrist, and it might not be such a bad idea to place him on the 15-day DL. This actually might be perfect timing for all parties, the Mets can call upon a fresh body and not keep the trend going of carrying injured players that occupy precious roster space. And for Conforto, this can be a small hiatus, where he can rehab the wrist some, and also recharge the batteries and get set for the upcoming summer months when we will need Michael Conforto the most.
