Michael Conforto: Former Mets 2015 NL Champion Out Fielder (2015 - 2021)

Michael Thomas Conforto was born on March 1st, 1993, in Woodinville, Washington. Michael comes from a family full of athletes. 

His father was a football, linebacker at Penn. State University & his sister, Jacqueline was a college soccer player.

His mother, Tracy Ruiz Conforto was a two-time, Olympic Gold Medalist (1984 / 1988) in synchronized swimming.

In 2004 he played in the Little League World Series for the Northwest Region.

In high school the honor roll student played short stop on the baseball team & was a standout safety in football. He was recruited by several Ivy League schools for football & was also sought after for baseball. He chose to stick with baseball & play at Oregon State. 

College Baseball: In his first year he was voted Freshman Hitter of the Year batting .349 with 13 HRs & setting a school record with 76 RBIs. In his sophomore year, he was named All American, leading his Oregon Beavers to the College World Series, where he went 7-14, getting named to the All-Tournament Team. In his off seasons he played for USA Collegiate National teams.

In 2013 he batted .345, named the Pac 12 Player of the Year & was named a first-team All-American. He went into 2014 as the pre season, Sporting News College Player of the Year. 

The six foot one, left hand hitting outfielder, throws right-handed. He attended Oregon State University getting drafted by the New York Mets in the first round in 2014 (the #10 pick overall).  

Minor Leagues: Conforto's pro career began that same year with the Brooklyn Cyclones. That year he led his club in batting (.331) & in HRs (3) while playing in 42 games. He started 2015 with the St. Lucie Mets where he hit .283 with 7 HRs & 28 RBIs in 46 games.

He got promoted to the AA Binghamton Mets in late May where he continued his hot hitting. He batted .312 with 5 HRs & 26 RBIs in 45 games, getting named to play in the 2015 Futures Game.

With the New York Mets struggling to score runs & an injury to Michael Cuddyer, the team decided to promote Conforto right up to the big-league level. At this point in time, he was rate as the organizations best hitting prospect. 

Mets Debut: On July 24th, 2015, Conforto made his debut in the big leagues starting in left field and going 0-3 in a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The young man said he got chills as the Citi Field crowd of 36,666 greeted him with a nice ovation. In the 5th inning he collected his first RBI as Lucas Duda scored when he grounded out.

Four Hit Game: The next night, in his second career game Conforto collected four hits, including back-to-back doubles along with two singles a walk & an RBI in the Mets 12-5 win over the Dodgers. He also scored four runs in the game. This made his the fastest Met ever to have a four-hit game.

On July 31st when the Mets traded for Yoenis Cespedes, Conforto was sent back down to the minor leagues to develop his young career. But four days later when Kirk Nieuwenhuis went on the DL, Conforto was back in the big leagues. By this time the Mets had now tied for first place. 

First Career HR: That night he hit his first career HR, coming off the Marlins Tom Koehler in a 12-1 Mets win in Florida, as the team took over sole possession of first place.

Conforto drove in runs the next two nights, including game tying single in the top of the 9th inning at Tampa, as New York came from behind to beat the Rays 4-3. Conforto scored the game winning run-on Wilmer Flores RBI hit. Conforto had eight RBIs & eight runs scored in his first nine games.

On August 15th he hit his second HR coming in a 5-3 loss to the Pirates. On August 21st later he hit another HR in a Mets win at Colorado. On August 31st, he brought his average up over .290 and hit his fourth HR of the season helping the Mets in a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field. By now the Mets had built up a six-game lead over the Nationals in the division.

In a hot September he was a big contributor to the Mets offense & run at the NL East title. Along with the newly acquired Yoenis Cespedes the Mets outfield all of a sudden had power & lots of hits out of their spots in the lineup. Conforto, Cespedes and veteran newcomers Kelly Johnson & Juan Uribe turned around a Mets team that struggled for hits & runs earlier in the year.

In the first seven days of September, Conforto hit two HRs & drove in five runs in five games he played in. 

On September 7th, he hit a HR off the Nat's Max Scherzer in an 8-5 Mets win in the first game of a three-game sweep in Washington D.C. On September 13th toward the end of the Mets eight game win streak, Conforto hit a two run HR in a 10-7 win & sweep of a series against the Braves in Atlanta.

On September 21st, he hit another HR against the Braves helping Jon Niese & the bullpen in a 4-0 shut out at Citi Field.

Since his arrival in August, Conforto had 13 multi-hit games, with 9 HRs with 23 RBIs. In a total of 56 games, he had 47 hits batting .270 with 9 HRs 14 doubles & 26 RBIs. He played primarily in left field, making six assists with a 1.000 fielding %.

2015 Post Season- NLDS: Conforto sat in Game #1 of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers as Michael Cuddyer got the start. 

For Game #2 Conforto got the start in left field while batting 7th at Dodger Stadium. In the top of the 2nd inning, three batters after Yoenis Cespedes had hit a HR, Conforto hit another HR off Zack Greinke giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. But they would lose the game 5-2.

Conforto played in the next three NLDS games but did not get any more hits. The Mets won the NLDS three games to two.

2015 NLCS: Conforto played in three of the four games in the NLCS sweep of the Chicago Cubs going 0-8 with a walk.

2015 World Series: Michael Conforto was thrilled to be playing the World Series, having been in the minor leagues just two months before & playing College ball just a year earlier.

On October 27th, in Game #1 of the World Series at Kansas City, Conforto hit a 6th inning sac fly off Edinson Volquez driving in Yoenis Cespedes for the Mets second run.

He went 0-3 hitless in the Mets Game #2 loss. In Game #3 the World Series came to Citi Field for the first time. The Mets won the game 9-3 behind Noah Syndergaard's pitching & the Mets offense finally returning to form. In the 4th inning Conforto hit an RBI single driving in Lucas Duda with the Mets fifth run as they now had a 5-3 lead.

 In the Mets Game #4 heartbreaking 5-3 loss, the Met offense was highlighted by Conforto's two HRs. In the 3rd inning he connected off Danny Duffy & then Chris Young in the 5th inning. He had two of the Mets six hits on the night. 

In the final Game#5, Conforto had two more hits in the 7-2 loss. In the 9th inning he singled but was stranded on base & was the last Met to walk off the field as the Royals celebrated behind him. The Mets only managed for hits in the game. 

Overall, in the World Series, Conforto led the Mets in batting .333 (for batters with more than two at bats) and was one of four Mets to have five hits. He was second in HRs (2) & RBIs (4) in the Series for the Mets as well. 

Overall, in 12 post season games, he had two six hits (6-30) batting .200 with 3 HRs & 6 RBIs.

Trivia: Conforto became the third player in MLB history to have played in the Little League World Series, College World Series & MLB World Series.

After the Pennant- 2016: The 2016 season, started out well for Conforto as he finished April batting .365 4 HRs & 18 RBIs. On April 8th he had a three RBI Day on a 7-2 Mets win over the Phillies at Citi Field. In mid-April he drove in three runs with a HR as the Mets took two of three in Cleveland against the eventual AL Champions.

On April 24th he drove in two runs in the Mets 3-2 win at Atlanta over the Braves. In a six-game stretch from April 24th to April 30th he drove in ten runs during an eight-game hit streak where he collected 15 hits. 

His average fell to below .300 by mid-May until he had another hot streak. He would hit a HR on May7th, then hit safely in nine of eleven games. On May 17th, he hit a solo HR off Max Scherzer, in a 2-0 Mets win over the Washington Nats. On May 20th, he hit another solo HR, this one against the Milwaukee Brewers in a 3-2 Mets win.

Things weren't going well at the plate for Conforto, but there were a few highlights. On June 4th, his 8th inning hit off David Phelps in Miami put the Mets ahead in a 6-4 win. 

On June 8th in Pittsburgh, he drove in three runs including a game tying HR to help the Mets in a 6-5 win over the Pirates. At Citi Field he would hit another HR against the Pirates a week later.

From May 24th to June 24th, he had just eight hits in 84 plate appearances in 25 games, as his average plummeted to .222. 

On June 24th & he was sent down to AA Las Vegas as the Mets called up Brandon Nimmo, one of the team's top prospects. 

He returned in mid-July & began to play in right & center field as well as his usual left. He was used mostly as a reserve than as a starter, without the Mets giving him an everyday chance it may have affected his play even more so.

On August 7th, he hit his first HR in nearly two months in a 3-1 win at Detroit. During the September pennant stretch, he had a two RBI game on September 18th against the Milwaukee Brewers in a 3-2 win. 

On September 23rd he hit a HR with three RBIs & two hits in a 10-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets finished second going 87-75 earning a wild card spot.

2016 Post Season: Conforto did not play in the Mets Wild Card loss to the Giants.

Overall, in a disappointing 2016 season, he hit .220, struggling mightily against lefties, with 12 HRs 21 doubles & 42 RBIs.

In the off season, the Mets resigned Yoenis Cespedes & could not shop Jay Bruce in the trade market as expected. That left Conforto's future uncertain. 

2017: As 2017 began, Conforto lost his starting role & was penciled in as the fourth outfielder. But a hot April had him batting .321 with 6 HRs 13 RBIs in the month. From April 9th to the 15th, he drove in runs in five of six games with a pair of HRs. On April 29th he hit two HRs & carried the Mets to a 5-3 win over the Nats in D.C.

In May he regained his starting role as he hit seven more HRs & drove in 21 runs. From May 14th to the 25th, he hit five HRs including two in a May 23rd win over the San Diego Padres. In that game he had four RBIs in the 9-3 Mets win at Citi Field. 

2017 All Star Game: As the Mets suffered injuries, Conforto became the team's best player. At the break after 70 games, he was hitting .284 with 14 HRs & 41 RBIs. He was named as the Mets only representative to the All-Star Game held in Miami. In the NL's 2-1 loss, Conforto got two at bats collecting a base hit off Roberto Osuna in the 7th inning.

Conforto would match his season high four RBI game high twice, first in a July 14th, 14-2 Mets win over the Rockies & again on July 21st. In that game, at Citi Field a Mets 7-5 win over the Oakland A's, he had one of his three multi-HR games.

On August 24th, he injured himself while swinging at a pitch and tore his shoulder. He missed the remained of the season & opted to get the surgery. 

He ended 2017 with 27 HRs & 68 RBIs (both second on the club to Jay Bruce). He had 104 hits with 20 doubles 57 walks 113 Ks, a .384 on base % & .939 OPS in 109 games. 

In the outfield he posted a .984 fielding % with five assists. 52 games in left, 43 in center & 11 in right.

2018: To start out the 2018 season, he played his first game on April 5th in Washington D.C. hitting a HR & driving in two runs, On May 11th his two run HR helped the Mets to a 3-1 win at Philadelphia. 

He hit another HR on May 19th, helping the Mets in a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, in a game where Wilmer Flores provided the walk off sac fly RBI. 

At the same time this week he was struggling just to keep his average over .200.

From July 14th to the 27th, Conforto had a hot streak in as he hit four HRs with a dozen RBIs & a dozen hits. In August he hit HRs in back-to-back games including one in the Mets subway series win. Later that week he had three hits & a HR in the Mets 24-4 romp over Philadelphia. 

The next day, although the Mets lost, Conforto had three more hits while driving in four runs. On August 28th, he matched that with four more RBIs & another three hit day, in the Mets 6-3 win over the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field.

In September he had his best offensive production of the season, in the first two weeks of the month he hit 6 HRs with 17 hits & 15 RBIs. 

On September 13th, in the second game of a double header, his solo HR off Kyle Barraclough tied the game up at 3-3. Todd Frazier's walk off HR beat the Miami Marlins 4-3, in a n exciting win. 

On September 17th, he had a season high six RBI's carrying the Mets to a 9-4 win. On the day he hit a single, double & a three run HR.

In the Mets poor 2018 season, Conforto led the team in HRs (28) walks (84) RBIs (82) & runs scored (78). He batted .243 with 132 hits, a .350 on base % & .797 OPS. His 84 walks were 8th most in the NL & his 159 strike outs 7th highest. 

He spent the most time in left field (84 games) with 58 in center & 12 in right. Overall, he had five assists with a .990 fielding %.

2019: Conforto was the Mets main right fielder in 109 playing 129 games there. He also played 39 games in center.

He got off to a hot start after Opening Day, hitting safely in 14 of 16 games, with three straight games where he hit a HR. He peaked with a .372 average but that quickly fell off, as he ended April batting .269 but was second to Pete Alonso with 14 RBIs.

In late May he hit four HRs over an eight-game span. On May 28th, he hit his first career grand slam. The HR came off the Dodgers, Scott Alexander in Los Angeles, Conforto drove in five runs in the Mets 7-3 win.

In June he had a ten-game hit streak, as he hit 6 HRs with 14 RBIs in the month. On July 2nd, he drove in two runs, including the game winning run in the subway series. His 8th inning double came off reliever Zack Briton at Citi Field. 

As the Mets began to win, they found themselves in the playoff hunt for a wild card spot. At the end of July, they won seven straight games, Conforto homered in three straight games from July 27-July 30th, during that streak. On July 31st, he & Todd Frazier had 8th inning RBI singles, leading the Mets to a 4-2 win in Chicago, over the White Sox. 

On August 4th, Conforto had two hits & hit his 22nd HR, in the Mets 13-2 win over the Pirates. 

The next day, he homered in the second game of a double header, against the Marlins at Citi Field. He drove in three runs that day & then in his next game on August 6th, hit two HRs with another three RBIs. 

The Mets won both games in the midst of another eight-game win streak. The Mets won 15 of 16 games in that stretch.

Walk Off Hit: On Friday August 9th, the Mets went into the bottom of the 9th inning, down 6-3 to the Washington Nationals. Todd Frazier tied the game with a three run HR off Sean Doolittle. 

The Mets, Joe Panik then singled & Juan Lagares came in as a pinch runner. With two outs, Amed Rosario singled & the stage was set for Conforto. 

He singled driving in Lagares with the walk off game winning, run. The exciting win had the Citi Field crowd go wild.

On August 18th, he hit his 26th HR, a two-run shot off Kansas City's Glenn Sparkman, as he drove in four runs in the Mets 11-5 win. 

On August 20th, he hit a two run HR in Cleveland, off Shane Biber, in the Mets 9-2 win as they won another five straight games. 

The Mets & Conforto both slumped as they lost five straight. On August 30th, he hit a two run HR as the Mets beat the Phils in Philadelphia 11-5. 

30th HR: On September 12th, Conforto hit his 30th HR of the season. It came in the 7th inning off Arizona's Kevin Ginkle, in a game where the Mets hit five HRs in an 11-1 rout of the Diamondbacks. Mets swept the four-game series at Citi Field. The Mets were now 5.5 games out of the lead wild card spot.

Unfortunately, the Mets slowly fell out of the wild card race in the lat two weeks of the season but had a quality 86-win year. 

On September 24th, he had another multi-HR game, hitting two & driving in four runs in the Mets 5-4 win over the Marlins.

Overall Conforto had his best year with career highs in HRs (33) RBIs (92) hits (141) runs (90) & doubles (29). 

On the Mets he was second to Pete Alonso in HRs & RBIs. Conforto was third on the team with a .363 on base %, & with games played 151. He posted a .856 OPS fourth on the team.

2020: In the strike shortened Covid19 season, he played in 54 games, leading the team in batting (.324) & on base % (.412%). He hit 9 HRs with 12 doubles 24 walks & 31 RBIs in 202 at bats. 

 

On August 19th, in Miami the Mets were tied 3-3 in n the top of the 9th inning, Conforto hit a two run HR off Brandon Kintzler, to win the game. In August 26th, he hit another HR against the Marlins, in a 8-7 Mets win.

In September 2nd, in Baltimore, Conforto had a
big day collecting four hits, hitting a HR & driving in five runs, on a 9-4 Mets win over the Orioles. 

On September 9th, he helped spark a Mets three run comeback against the O's, with a HR in the 5th inning off Jorge Lopez. In his next game, at Toronto, he hot a three run HR off Chase Anderson. He later collected a walk, a hit & an RBI in the Mets huge, ten run 4th inning. The Mets won the game 18-1. 

In the off season he declined a Mets contract extension worth a $100.

2021: He entered the 2021 season with big expectations from himself & the fans. On Opening Day he collected two hits & an RBI in the Mets loss at Philadelphia. He didn't hit his first HR until April 24th. On May 4th he drove in two runs in a game at Philadelphia, then hit a 9th inning HR off Hector Neris to break a 4-4 tie leading the Mets to a 5-4 win. The next day he drove in two more runs in an 8-7 win at Philly as well.

Walk Off Hit By Pitch: On April 8th in the Mets home opener, he came to bat with the bases
loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning facing Anthony Bass in a 1-1 tie with the Marlins. Bass hit Conforto with a pitch, as the Mets won in a rare walk off fashion.

On May 11th he drove in the first Mets run in a game against the Orioles in which the Mets came back & won walk off style on a Patrick Mazeika pinch hit fielder's choice. He drove in runs in three straight games that week.

On May 16th he went down with an injury that kept him out of the lineup until June 23rd. By that point the surprising Mets were up 4.5 games in first place.

Walk Off Hit: He would drive in just one run in the month, that came on June 26th. He lined out to centerfield in the bottom of the 9th inning bringing in Billy McKinney with the walk off run over the Phillies. The Mets came back from a 3-2 deficit that inning.

At the All Star break the Mets were still up by 3.5 games in first place. On July 18th his clutch hitting continued as he hit a 9th inning two run HR off the Pirates Richard Rodriguez with the Mets down 6-5. His powered them to the 5-5 win. The next day he hit two HRs in Cincinnati with three hits & three RBIs in the Mets wild 15-11 win.

In August the Mets lost 19 of their first 25 games & fell to 6.5 games out of first place. 8-10

On August 28th he hit a three run HR off the Nationals Mason Thompson leading the Mets to a 5-3 win and a six-game win streak.

On August 31st, Conforto hit his 10th HR of the year, a two-run shot off the Marlins Edward Cabrera leading to a 3-1 Mets win.

Walk off Hit: In a suspended game from April that was resumed on August 31st, Conforto hit a two-run single off the Marlins Antony Bass in the bottom of the 9th inning, scoring the tying & walk off winning runs. The Mets put up five runs in that inning.

In the first game of a September 4th double header with the Nationals, he homered in the first game of the 11-9 Mets win & drove in a run in the second game as well. The next day Conforto had a multi-RBI game driving in three runs in the Mets 13-6 win. The Mets won eight of ten games that week with Conforto driving in runs in six of them.

As the Mets season faded away into misery, Conforto hit .275 that September with 28 hits, 4 HRs & 19 RBIs, his most productive month.

On October 1st in what was his final game as a Met, the fans gave him a standing ovation that brought him to tears.

On the season he batted .232 with 94 hits 20 doubles 14 HRs 55 RBIs 52 runs scored 59 walks a .344 on base% & a .729 OPS.

After the season he elected free agency turning down the Mets first offer. 

Post Mets Career: He eventually found himself with no team for 2022 & then needed shoulder surgery putting him out for the whole year. In January of 2023 he signed with the San Francisco Giants.

Conforto stared out the season with 3 HRs & 6 RBIs in his first nine games. In May another hot streak had him hit 7 HRs with 15 RBIs in a 14-game span where he batted .370. On June 23rd, he collected three hits with a season high four RBI game in an 8-5 win over the Diamondbacks. After hitting 12 HRs in the first three months of the season, he hit just three in the final three months. He also missed five weeks of action with a hamstring pull in late August. 

On the year he batted .239 with 15 HRs 14 doubles & 58 RBIs.

Career Stats: In his eight-year career, he is a .253 hitter with 747 hits 155 doubles 4 triples 147 HRs 458 runs scored & 454 RBIs. He struck out over 100 times in five seasons with 816 career K's. He walked 414 times with a .353 on base% & .810 OPS.

Conforto has played 882 career games overall with 806 games in the outfield. He played 430 in right field 277 games in left & 146 in centerfield. He has 46 assists & posted a .987 fielding %.

Early in his career, while playing in New York Conforto was living on the Upper East side with Noah Syndergaard until the 2017 season. He then got a place of his own, preferring one of the quieter neighborhoods in Manhattan. 

Family: In January of 2021, Conforto got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Cabernet Burns while in Mexico. They were married that December. Cabernet was born in 1993 & is VP at Prom Series which curates, foster girls to build confidence & worth.

The Conforto's live in Scottsdale, Arizona during the off season.