Now that the Mets have remade their starting rotation with young guns, as Long Island native Steven Matz became the last of the heralded bunch to arrive in his spectacular big league debut last Sunday at Citi Field, they hope to infuse their terrible offense with fresh blood in the coming seasons. We liked the makeup and the athleticism. While it didn't come to that, and he rebounded to hit .273 in the second half, it's hard not to consider where Conforto would have been without that setback. Ive covered the Mets for a variety of outlets since 1997. High School: Redmond HS (Redmond, WA), School: Oregon State University (Corvallis, OR), Debut: His father, Mike is an Italian American who played inside linebacker at Penn State. I think youll all know what I mean when I say: this is the most Mets way for the Marlins to ever lose pic.twitter.com/BWJKjZhInW. Kulpa admitted as much following the contest. When you were drafted there were a lot of draft experts that said you were below average defensively in left and you might not stick there. Now it's more like I'll text him and say, 'You've got a gift. Known then as Tracie Ruiz, she won gold medals in solo and duet synchronized swimming at the 1984 Olympics and a solo silver four years later. "Joe would always tell us that you're never as good as you think you are when things are going well, and you're never as bad as you think you are when you're not performing very good," dad said. The Mets' game ended in controversy Thursday after Conforto appeared to lean into a pitch for a walk-off hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded. It was Week 3, just before halftime of a Penn State win against Maryland in a nationally televised game at Beaver Stadium. pic.twitter.com/wUXncHd4t1, USA Synchro (@USASynchro) September 30, 2014, I was a football guy first because of my dad, Michael Conforto said. With the teams set to play two more games in the series, it wouldn't be a huge shock to see Conforto get hit again before the weekend is over. His WAR since 2017, his first full season in the majors, is 13.0, which ranks 61st in the majors among position players. Your Rookie Season. Positions: Leftfielder, Rightfielder and Centerfielder Bats: Left Throws: Right 6-1, 215lb (185cm, 97kg) . Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. The best insights from the ultimate insiders, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Yankees' options for left field continue to dwindle, Ex-Mets star headed to Giants after missing 2022 season, Who will be the Yankees' left fielder? However, Alderson added, At this point hes still in Binghamton, and I would expect him to be over the near term., That sounds exciting, definitely, Conforto said, in an interview last week at NYSEG Stadium, of a surge to the top. Hes able to go out there and lay off some tough pitches, and then whenever he gets a good pitch to hit, he puts a good swing on it. He has been selected to play in the Futures Game on July 12 at Cincinnatis Great American Ballpark. It's unclear whether MLB will do anything to punish Conforto or the Mets for the play. They quickly came to their senses and instead opened a gym, where Mike met his now ex-wife and Michael's mother, Tracie Ruiz, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in synchronized swimming at the 1984 Olympics. Offense-deprived organization. Michael Conforto, the Mets' top prospect who's been tearing up Double-A and looks on the verge of making his big league debut, was then standing on first base. While his father, Mike, was a linebacker at Penn State, his mother, Tracie, was an Olympic synchronized swimmer who took home two gold medals at the Los Angeles games in 1984 and a silver medal in Seoul in 1988. Michael Conforto was drafted by the New York Mets in the 1st round (10th) of the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft from Oregon State University (Corvallis, OR). Michael Conforto had 132 home runs over his career. You've got a gift from God. Conforto's father says his son tends to play better when he's in the stands. LF Michael Conforto assigned to St. Lucie Mets from Savannah Sand Gnats. I think the Mets have really liked my ability to get on base. He's a man. "I think he is prepared for this," the father said. You may opt-out by. New York Mets placed LF Michael Conforto on the 10-day disabled list. And with the Mets run-production crisis, that curiosity is quite intense. The Mets are confident he will improve. The elder Michael Conforto misses his son's big-league debut but gets to see his breakout game. But on Aug. 24, Conforto suffered a freak injury, dislocating and tearing the posterior capsule in his left shoulder on a swing. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. 2023 Oregon State Athletics. (Age 22-145d, Did a quick google search and found his signature on a statement supporting Paterno. So Ive taken that with me. ", The elder Conforto was never a starter but played on two teams that finished among the top five in the nation, in 1977 and 1978. Did Michael Conforto lean into it? WebLettered two years in football as a quarterback and free safety Named second-team all-state in football. Now, I don't do that now. Nobody was happier than the man who gave Michael Conforto his name, and half of his excellent genes. Im so excited about this team. 17 overall prospect in the Draft named Pac-12 Conference Freshman of the Year in 2012 & Player of the Year in 2013 hit .345 with 7 HR, 16 2B, 2 3B, 56 RBIs and a .504 OBP. Fast track. This is how Michael Conforto, the 10th pick in last year's MLB draft, hits, his swing sweet and compact, the line drives spraying from foul line to foul line. His .216 first-half average seemed so out of character that the Mets even considered sending him back to Triple-A. MLB rules also state if a player gets hit by a ball in the strike zone, that pitch should be ruled a strike. It came during an off day from the 2004 Little League World Series, when the team from Redmond, Wash., made the hourlong drive southwest to State College. "It's a little bit of a surreal feeling," the father said. On January 6, 2023, Conforto signed a two-year contract worth $36 million with the San Francisco Giants, containing an opt-out clause after the first season. [59] "All the games he's been to this year, I've played really well," Michael the Met said of his father. "This guy, there's no holes to him. (Howard Simmons/New York Daily News). It overlooks his personal history which, if anything, makes the Mets prospects rise even more impressive. "There is so many things involved to get there and to be able to consistently perform and have the right mental makeup, too, to handle everything. If he wants to come here, bat third and make $1 million, let me know, one source from a second-division team said with a laugh. In just his second game with the Mets, Michael Conforto is already making an impact. I have put work in with them (coaches) and the best time to do it is in batting practice so you can get live reads off the bat. Perfect Game USA rates him as the No. This from a team that had lost four of five and spent the first two games of this series swinging swizzle sticks. Nevertheless, he added, The front office is going to do what they deem is best for the team. His father was his football coach. Apodo: Forto. And his B material, and his C material, and whatever letter much deeper into the alphabet you want to use to describe material such as delivering Homer Simpson-esque puns to describe Max Scherzers free agency (A material would have been Boras singing quite accurately as it would have turned out Teams that dont want to pay $100 million musnt tooooouch) and offering a malapropism mashup of Bob Seger and rock analogies to describe Corey Seager. IRON MIKE: METS PROPSECT CONFORTO HAS TOUGHNESS TO SPARE. "Michael was a pretty emotional football player, and is a very composed baseball player, with little sparks of football intensity you will see from time to time," his father said. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. Decide for yourself. It's like in a football game, when you have jitters until your first hit.". Scooter, Forto are nicknames for Michael Conforto. For Conforto's father, watching his son reach the highest level of his sport has been a treat. How would you describe your hitting style? Manager Don Mattingly was furious about the call, and argued with the umpires over the ruling. 6 player in Washington and 211th Consistency is huge. Michael the father has had four knee surgeries, and No. Hes been a professional hitter, Binghamton manager Pedro Lopez said. So far, he's played one game, he played football at Penn State and helped his mother train for the Olympics. Paul DePodesta, the Mets vice president of player development and amateur scouting, doesnt quite buy into this narrative. "I really do. 01 was a great year, and that was the last time we made the playoffs, Conforto said, before quickly self-editing with a smile: They made the playoffs.. Two innings later, Conforto drilled a double to the center-field wall, and followed with a single to left in the sixth. Shortly thereafter, Smith appeared via Zoom and wept during an emotional press conference. NEW YORK (AP) Two years ago, before he was a budding star for the New York Mets and among the big league batting leaders, Michael Conforto returned home after his first summer of professional baseball and listened to some advice from his mom. Javascript is required for the selection of a player. But he missed five weeks with a hamstring injury this year, when he was batting under .200 as late as Aug. 5 and didnt lift his average above .230 for good until the penultimate day of the season. With his father leading the way, the star 11-year-old and his teammates hung out on the sidelines of a Penn State football practice and were granted an audience with coach Joe Paterno. He made his first and only All-Star team in 2017. He drives the ball., Said a second scout who also has seen Conforto in 2015: The early signs are that he can be a nice-looking bat. The 23-year-old outfielder's dad also provides guidance. I had a feeling he was going to be a pretty good athlete, so we talked more about how to be a good teammate, Mike Conforto said, to help everyone around you be better and not get overly focused on yourself., Said Tracie Ruiz of her son: Hes the type of kid that will study a pitcher, and he will try to outthink and outsmart them while theyre trying to outsmart him., You could put him in a keg and drop down Niagara Falls, and hes coming out, Casey said of his former player. She always said she wasnt the most talented, but she worked the hardest. .824. "I've always had like kind of a special place [in my heart] for Penn State," said Michael, whose Mets open the NL division series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday at Dodger Stadium. He was good enough to go to Oregon State and start as a freshman. New York Mets optioned LF Michael Conforto to Las Vegas 51s. Free Agent: 2025, More Michael Conforto Pages at Baseball Reference. Strained right hamstring. Conforto hit the open market when he declined the Mets qualifying offer, which would have guaranteed him $18.4 million and a chance to rebuild his value after a down 2021 in which he needed a strong September to finish with middling overall numbers (.232 with 14 homers, 55 RBIs and an OPS+ of 101, one percent above league average). Sometimes youll have a rough patch and youll start to think you need to change a lot of things, but, like I said before, sticking with that routine and being consistent, I think that goes a long way in not freaking out or panicking when things arent going so well How do you view your role on the big league team? Im from Seattle, so he was always who I tried to look like when I was swinging the bat. "When you experience success, you go up there are you expect to perform at a certain level, and he's got that swagger.". Having made the jump from Double-A directly to the major leagues last July 24, he is the starting left fielder for the defending National League champions and is hitting .301. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 12: (NEW YORK DAILIES OUT) Michael Conforto #30 of the New York Mets loses his bat against the Baltimore Orioles at Citi Field on May 12, 2021 in New York City. Just over a month into his stay at Double-A Binghamton, less than a year since his professional debut, the lefty-hitting left fielder has made the sort of impression reserved for the games most touted prospects. "Reality is somewhere in between, and I think it's kind of helped him to not get caught up too much in the highs or the lows. Michael Conforto made last year. It's also available for football, basketball and hockey. To appreciate how he wound up at Jacoby Ellsburys alma mater (Conforto met the Yankees outfielder a couple of times on campus), you first must know about Confortos family tree. He, as much as anyone, knows the difficulty of making it in elite athletics. After Dominic Smith took a knee during the National Anthem in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake prior to the game against the Marlins Aug. 26, Conforto said he supported Smith but wouldnt kneel. He went to the College World Series in 2013, in his sophomore year at Oregon State. 5 is coming up in November. A three-sport athlete at Redmond High School outside Seattle, he played quarterback for the Mustangs. Mets captain David Wright thinks three months of big-league play last year have made the difference. I might ask him to move out here or something.". Conforto put together a superstar-caliber season during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, when he hit .322 with nine homers, 31 RBIs and an OPS+ of 154. I think thats whats made him successful to this point.. Even then, the decision to award Conforto with a hit-by-pitch came down to home plate umpire Ron Kulpa. After beginning this year as the Mets' No. Born: Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? BINGHAMTON Haggard town, run-down ballpark. WebMichael Conforto. "I always check up on them to see how they're doing in the fall.". The responsibility falls to Kulpa to make that call, making it hard for MLB to do anything to Conforto or the Mets. He drove home 71 runs as a freshman, and the next two seasons, Conforto won Pac-12 Player of the Year honors. Data Provided By The field last night was Citi, and his son had just gone 4-for-4 in his second big-league game. In Reference to QUESTION MARKBetween a strained hamstring and some uncharacteristic struggles at the plate in 2021, Conforto did not exactly soar into free agency on a high note. At one of his gyms, Conforto trained a swimmer named Tracie Ruiz, who proceeded to win two gold medals in the 1984 Olympics and a silver in the 1988 Games for synchronized swimming. Alongside his 4-for-4 and his five trips on base, he had two doubles, four runs, a nice running catch in left field, and oh yes, a batting average of .571. He didn't just pick up his second RBI in two games. But deep beneath the schtick, Boras delivered one truth: Michael Conforto is going to have one of the most interesting and, it appears, protracted winters (and maybe springs and summers) of any free agent. Craig's older brother, Ron, played on their offensive line. As a professional, since his debut last July 19 for Class-A Brooklyn, hes at .311/.384/.472. Mike has 1 job listed on their profile. The Mississippi State freshman is a rare ambidextrous pitcher, the most notable since Pat Venditte appeared in 61 major league games from 2015-20. 18. Im kind of speechless. This is a BETA experience. (March 1, 1993) Birthplace: Woodlinville, WA Bats/Throws: L/R Ht: 6 1 Wt: 211, Signed with the Mets: on July 11, 2014, receiving a $2,970,800 signing bonus, Bio: Selected by the New York Mets in the. "My approach is the same everywhere I go," the son said. Is one of three players to play in the Little League World Series, the College World Series and the World Series (also, Jason Varitek and Ed Vosberg)Comes from an athletic familyHis father, Mike, played football as a linebacker at Penn State University from 1976-1978His mother, Tracie, won two gold medals in synchronized swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and a silver medal in 1988 in SeoulShe was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of FameSwung both right- and left-handed as a kidWas more comfortable hitting leftyHis father encouraged him to work more on his left-handed swingConforto throws right-handed, but writes left-handedHas two dogs, Griffey and KaliEach pup had a cardboard cutout in the stands at Citi Field in 2020Got engaged to his long-time girlfriend, Cabernet, during the 2020-21 offseasonThe two are set to get married after the 2021 seasonPlays PUBG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) on Xbox to unwind and forget about baseballPlays with Los Angeles-NL's Max MuncyAlso enjoys "Call of Duty: Warzone.". Michael Conforto didn't just get the first, second, third and fourth hits of his big-league career in a 15-2 victory over the Dodgers. Some defensive statistics Copyright Sports Info Solutions, 2010-2023. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images), Paul Pogba Returns To Help Juventus Win Serie A Derby Against Torino, Monica Puig Joins Athleta's Tennis Movement, Part Of Larger The Power Of She Collective, Atletico Madrid Reportedly Offer To Sign Ferran Torres From FC Barcelona, FC Barcelona Make Lionel Messi Genius $100 Million Final Offer To Return To Club This Summer - Reports, Atlanta Braves Post Record Revenue, But Profit Falls, FC Barcelona Still Keen On Signing New Pedri Alberto Moleiro From Las Palmas - Reports, Big Apple Aces Max Scherzer, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon Among MLBs Elite Slider Artists, NBA, Players Association Very Motivated To Reach New Labor Agreement By March 31 Opt-Out Deadline, especially a red-eyed press conference following the Mets home finale Sept. 30, this one against the Orioles in September 2020, this one to cut down the Braves Abraham Almonte at the plate to preserve a 2-1 Mets win on July 28, this one, potentially his last at Citi Field as a member of the Mets. 396. "He's got friends who played in the NFL who are now kind of starting to feel the effects of all that, all the collisions," the younger Conforto said. "Michael was able to stay, which is a testament to how strong he is mentally and how talented he is physically.". Tell us all about your experience so far since making it up to the big team. Its not like he didnt know what he was doing. Conforto, whose Dad played college football at Penn State and whose Mom was an Olympic swimmer, has always carried himself with a maturity and self-awareness beyond his years. This guys a warrior.. The Mets' booth was disappointed the game ended on that play. After a groundout by James McCann, the Mets hit two straight singles. In New York Mets activated RF Michael Conforto from the 7-day injured list. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Fastballs or flutter kicks, Tracie Conforto knows about high-pressure performances. Shop for Mets Mother's Day gear "There was a Its been a dream. He made a goal-line stop to force the opposition to settle for a field goal, swinging the game's momentum. In his time in New York, Conforto made an All-Star team (2017), smacked 132 home runs and hit .333 with two homers in his only World Series appearance as a 22-year-old in 2015. He's made Little League World Series historyFormer teammate Todd Frazier is perhaps the big leaguer best known for competing in the Little League World Series. Confortos most impressive act of maturity and leadership occurred Aug. 26-27, 2020. Still, as mom points out, her son's injuries occurred while playing baseball. ---Question/CommentAdvertisingMarketing. San Francisco Giants activated LF Michael Conforto. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images), FOLLOW THE DAILY NEWS SPORTS ON FACEBOOK. I was doing baseball, football, basketball.. "I talked about blocking everything else out completely blocking everything out, scouts, really focusing on beating the pitcher. Im extremely excited! His current contract terms are 2 yrs/$36M (23-24). WebMichael Conforto was drafted by the New York Mets in the 1st round (10th) of the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft from Oregon State University (Corvallis, OR). Two days ago, Michael Conforto the left fielder was in Trenton with the Binghamton Mets, his call-up so hastily arranged that his father could not get to Citi Field from his home in Redmond, Wash. for Michael the son's major-league debut Friday night. Hes not nearly as rambunctious as Pete Alonso, but Conforto knew enough to go with it when Alonso raced towards him and ripped off his shirt to begin a 2019 stretch drive tradition following Confortos walk-off hit on Aug. 9. Another significant shoulder injury may have cost himThe trajectory of Conforto's career might have been changed by a dislocated shoulder. While Boras predictably laid it on thick about Conforto calling him the king of diamonds as well as the king of Queens (someone alert Kevin James and Jacob deGrom) before declaring Conforto is the ace of many general managers hearts, his less boisterous statements spoke to how layered and fascinating the free agent case is for Conforto. Penn State moves up two spots after Rose Bowl win in final AP top 25 rankings of 2022 season. Find out more. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Michael Conforto is on Instagram at mconforto8. "I told him that when I would walk out to compete, sometimes I would get so nervous that my hands would go numb," she recalled.