USA TODAY International Edition
Mets fans pining for phenom Conforto
Can top hitting prospect improve woeful offense?
NEW BRITAIN, CONN. With the Class AA Binghamton Mets playing a road series a mere 103 miles from Citi Field, a crowd of autograph- seekers waited each day for outfielder Michael Conforto as he got off the bus and after he stretched. He lost track of time acceding to requests one evening and had to rush to get in place for the national anthem.
Not a day goes by that his teammates don’t hear a fan yell, “Free Conforto!”
The New York Mets fan base has been waiting as long as any other — since 2008 — for a winning season. As the club approaches the 100- game point and the July 31 non- waiver trade deadline, its is 49- 46 and three games behind the Washington Nationals in the National League East, propped up by a dominant starting rotation but held back by an offense that has scored the fewest runs in the league.
General manager Sandy Alderson has said he is willing to overpay for the right hitter, but many fans are skeptical after years of organizational reluctance to spend money or prospects.
The Mets have internally discussed promoting Conforto, the No. 10 overall pick out of Oregon State in 2014 and the franchise’s top hitting prospect, who has become the object of their desire. Such passion is inescapable not only at the ballpark but also on social media, where he said he
gets bombarded with Twitter notifications.
“Until that becomes the present, I’m going to make sure I’m doing what I can be to always be learning and soaking in as much as I can,” Conforto said.
Entering a three- game series in Washington, a Mets sweep would have vaulted them to the top of the NL East. Instead, they lost two of three after reliever Bobby Parnell blew a two- run lead and fell 4- 3 in Wednesday’s rubber match.
“It’s a huge loss, a big loss,” Mets manager Terry Collins said.
It also illustrated the razorthin margin with which the Mets typically operate, largely due to a lineup rarely capable of providing Collins a stress- free afternoon.
In the first game of the series, New York started three players hitting below .175 — four, if you count pitcher Matt Harvey. Not a single regular is batting as high as .270. Neither man who started in left field, John Mayberry Jr. and Kirk Nieuwenhuis, has an onbase- plus- slugging percentage ( OPS) higher than .614. ( The league- average left fielder has an OPS of .720.)
The external cry for reinforcements has not permeated the clubhouse, where the Mets have grown accustomed to getting by with what they’re given as a meticulous rebuilding process plays out.
“There’s no point to get yourself too far ahead of anything else,” outfielder Curtis Granderson said of possible trade acquisitions, “because it really doesn’t do you any good.”
Then there’s Conforto. The 22year- old left- handed hitter went 2- for- 2 in last week’s Futures Game, then returned to Class AA, where he went 7- for- 16 with four extra- base hits to earn Eastern League player of the week honors. Since a midseason promotion to Binghamton, he’s batting .321 in 44 games with an on- base percentage above .400 and an OPS above .900.
New York veteran left fielder Michael Cuddyer is nursing sore knees and could wind up on the disabled list, which would open a spot for Conforto to get a riskfree, two- week trial in the majors.
Mets fans are so sick of losing and desperate for the team to be bold and relevant that Conforto has become almost as much an idea as a person. Despite the hype, Conforto said he wasn’t worried about disappointing and saw a promotion as opportunity.
Paul DePodesta, the Mets’ vice president of player development and amateur scouting, was in attendance Wednesday when Conforto went 2- for- 4 with a walk. DePodesta praised the young player’s advanced approach at the plate, his underrated defense and his maturity on and off the field.
“I think if you took a handful of players off this Double- A team and put them in the big leagues, they could go there and perform,” DePodesta said. “It’s something different to ask someone to go there and ( do so) with all that attention as some sort of answer to a problem that the major league team has faced over the course of the past month or two.
“Ideally, we’ll be in position where he — and others, for that matter — get promoted when they’re ready to succeed, not just because we have a need.”
Squeezing in that development now is important. Binghamton center fielder Brandon Nimmo, Conforto’s teammate and the club’s first- round pick in 2011, says he has learned that Mets fans are passionate and loyal — and can be demanding.
“The other thing I’ve learned is that there are high expectations that go along with the New York market and also not a lot of room for error or for developing in the big leagues,” Nimmo said. “Once guys get up to the big leagues, it’s time to start producing.”
Oregon State coach Pat Casey calls Conforto “a pretty complete hitter” who struggled as a freshman in fall ball — only to homer on the first pitch he saw in the regular season and never look back. He ranked third in the nation with 76 RBI while earning Pac- 12 freshman of the year honors, then was named the conference’s player of the year as a sophomore and junior.
“I don’t have any qualms about him hitting in the big leagues, nor do I have any qualms about him handling the pressure,” Casey said. “I think the guy’s got a chance to be a superstar.”
Conforto has adjusted as a hitter, too. He sprays the ball all over the field and can even drive the ball with power the opposite way. It wasn’t always that way: As a college junior, he grew so pullhappy one opponent relocated its third baseman to left- center field so the center fielder could cover the right- center gap.
Little deters him. Conforto played six weeks of his freshman season with a broken leg after an X- ray failed to reveal a break.
“There are few guys I’ve played with I’m in awe of — he’s just one of those guys,” Nimmo said. “I’ve told him the last guy that I felt this way about was Steven Matz.”
Matz is the Mets rookie pitcher who won his first two big- league starts with a 1.32 ERA and tallied five RBI of his own in his debut.
The Mets keep churning out great young pitchers: Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler and Matz, to name a few. In Conforto, they’re hoping they’ve finally produced an impact bat, too.