Sometimes, Michael Conforto looks at a largely empty Citi Field, and can hardly comprehend it. He can easily picture when every seat was filled, when it was a challenge to hear the person next to you speak.
Conforto was a 22-year-old rookie in 2015, and the third-youngest player ever to homer in the World Series, hitting two shots in Game 4 in Queens. The young and talented teammates surrounding Conforto made him believe that autumn would be that way for many years.
“It’s kind of weird for me because when you come up as a rookie and you go to the World Series and you have a great team around you, it feels like this is the team we’re gonna have for the foreseeable future,” Conforto said. “It’s amazing how quickly those things can change.”
It’s amazing how much goals can change.
“It’s definitely a different atmosphere now, as far as the stadium, and we don’t have the same team that we started the year with,” Conforto said. “But we just want to finish strong, so we have something to be excited about for next year.”
At the tail end of a season in which the standings stopped mattering months ago, Conforto has accomplished that.
After undergoing shoulder surgery last September, and missing most of spring training — as well as the beginning of the season — Conforto hit just .216 in 85 games before the All-Star break, with 11 home runs, 30 RBIs and a .710 OPS.
On a team filled with disappointments, few stood out more than the 25-year-old former All-Star expected to be entering the prime of his career. But in the second half, Conforto has morphed back into the phenom expected to anchor the Mets lineup for years.
After going 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs and a walk in a 3-0 win over the Braves on Wednesday night, Conforto now has a career-high 28 home runs. He has nine homers and 29 RBIs in September, having already set single-month career-best marks. In his past 18 games, he is hitting .352 (25-for-71) with a 1.235 OPS.
In 64 games since the break, he has batted .282 with 17 homers and 52 RBIs, with a .928 OPS. Over a full season, Conforto’s second half would put him on pace for 43 homers and 132 RBIs.
Every year, he would sign up for that kind of season. But watching months of misery transform into the best stretch of his career gives him increased confidence in carrying this over to next season.
“I learned a lot about myself,” Conforto said. “I learned a lot about how you work through those things. If you can work your way through that, you can go up against any challenge that comes your way. It’s definitely encouraging.”
Conforto feels even better about preparing for a normal offseason, having already set career highs in RBIs (82) and walks (82).
“It’s fairly simple, I hadn’t gone that long without swinging a bat since I started playing baseball,” Conforto said of last winter. “Physically I felt ready, but until you get into the everyday grind of playing in the big leagues you don’t know where you’re at. I had some catch-up to do. But I wouldn’t change anything about the way I did things. I don’t know what would’ve happened if I stayed away from the big leagues even longer, but I’m where I want to be now.
“And the biggest thing is knowing I made it through it healthy. There were no lingering issues with the shoulder, so I feel good about that.”
