Last year’s Cyclone is this year’s newest Mets’ superstar.
Former Brooklyn Michael Conforto picked up the first four hits of his Major League career in the Mets 15–2 romp of the Dodgers on Saturday night.
Conforto, the 1,000th Met in team history, became the first Met to have a four-hit game within the first two games of his career — earning them a day after he said he was living a dream after going 0-for-3 in his first game with one run batted in.
“This is more what I was dreaming about,” the slugger said after the game. “I couldn’y have pictured it any better than tonight.”
Playing left field, Conforto got started early, rapping his first hit on a chopper of the glove of Dodgers spot starter Zach Lee — a possible double play ball had the pitcher not gone after it — that resulted in a run. Conforto then doubled and scored off Lee in the third before doubling and scoring again in the fifth. Conforto then singled in the sixth and scored on a hit by Mets ace Matt Harvey. He later walked and scored in the seventh, finishing up a perfect night.
The only scary moment of the night came in the seventh when a soft fly ball was destined for the no-man’s-land between in short left field, where Conforto and shortstop Ruben Tejada tumbled over each other. Replays showed that Conforto called for the ball late, but no one was injured.
A first-round pick by the Mets in 2014, Conforto hit .331 in 42 games for the Cyclones and skipper Tom Gamboa.
Conforto raced through the minor-league system, hitting .283 at single-A St. Lucie and .312 at double-A Binghamton before getting a call to the Mets, where management has been impressed.
“He’s a good-looking hitter,” said Mets manager Terry Collins. “He hits the ball all over the field, he’s got plate discipline. He laid off a couple of good, real tough pitched and obviously he’s got a good eye.”
A combination of a struggling offense and injuries led to Conforto being called up after only 173 at-bats for the Binghamton.
There was a lot of attention given to his debut on Friday, but teammates say there was no distraction.
“Not at all,” said Curtis Granderson. “Especially now with the amount of knowledge people have of prospects and the minor leagues. Everybody on the outside knows almost as much about them as they do about the big league team.”
Mets players are used to the hoopla that playing in New York brings.
“Having a kid make his Major League debut is something that happens every year to most ball clubs,” said Kirk Nieuwenheis, another former Cyclone who had four hits on Saturday. Former Cyclone Lucas Duda also hit two home runs in the blowout win.
In addition to being a gifted hitter, Conforto has won people over with his attitude.
“He’s just the way you wish your son would grow to be like,” Gamboa said. “There’s no arrogance. He’s universally well-liked and respected by all his teammates. He’s going to represent the Mets very well on and off the field.”
The Mets acquired Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson on the same day Conforto came up. General manager Sandy Alderson was asked if Conforto would be impacted.
“Not at this point. But again, the players that are producing will play and in his case, to the extent that he’s making a contribution he’ll be here, to the extent he’s not making a contribution, he’ll be elsewhere developing.”
Rusty Staub, who played nine of his 23 seasons with the Mets, sometimes gives advice to young players.
“I just try to tell them don’t be too tough on themselves,” said the player known as Le Grand Orange, who came up with Houston but made a name for himself in two stints with the Mets, the last as a clutch pinch hitter and steakhouse owner. “Keep your composure as best you can. Concentrate. Concentrate on what you do. Don’t let all the peripheral get in the way.”
The left fielder handled his debut well.
“He seemed confident, he seemed composed,” Granderson said. “He didn’t seem too overwhelmed and that’s probably the biggest one because there are so many things that happen on the first day from getting in, getting started, where you’re playing, phone calls, all the different things, and he just went about his business and got himself ready to play.”
