Before the game Monday at Citi Field, Michael Conforto was honored by the Mets as the top minor league player in their organization.
Then during the game against the Braves, Conforto showed he’s not too shabby as a major league player, either.
Conforto again displayed one of the traits that promises a bright future — opposite-field power — when he drove his eighth homer of the season, in his 134th at-bat, to left off Atlanta’s woefully bad-luck starter Shelby Miller in the second inning. That gave the Mets their second run en route to their 4-0 victory that upped their NL East lead to 6 ½ games over rained-out Washington.
“This guy has got some kind of power. Of all the things I’ve heard, it’s the one thing that has really surprised me,” said manager Terry Collins after the Mets supplied what he called “a big win for us” after dropping two consecutive series. “Not just the opposite-field power but the power itself. This guy is going to be a good hitter, but he’s going to be a home-run hitter, too. This guy has enough juice to put up some big numbers.”
For Conforto, it’s just what say, Ken Griffey Jr. or Robinson Cano or Carlos Gonzalez would do.
“I’ve always considered myself a power hitter, definitely,” said Conforto, who explained that college — Oregon State — was a hitting laboratory for him, where he refined his craft and to “grow up as a hitter and mature.
“So the power numbers went down as I played more, but the walks and average went up. I became more of a mature hitter, using the gaps and using more of the field and pulling for power,” Conforto said.
The offensive jewel of the Mets system explained how he studied films, watched what he liked and borrowed here, took a snippet there. Then he rolled it all together with his own personal stamps.
“I’ve looked at a lot of hitters. A lot of guys take bits and pieces of guys they like and it meshes together into a unique swing,” said Conforto, naming some of those he watched and analyzed. “A lot of guys — Griffey and Robinson Cano. In college, I liked watching Carlos Gonzalez. Lefty power guys. So just take pieces of what you like.”
How long before younger players are borrowing from Michael Conforto?
“It’s all coming together,” he said after his night that was “the cherry on top” of “an awesome day” that “couldn’t have gone any better — it was cool to get the award but even better to get the win.”
Conforto’s line-drive homer came in a 3-1 hitter’s count and put the Mets on top 2-0 in the second. After Conforto was called up July 24, pitchers went away. He found success going the opposite way. So they started jamming him inside. He worked and started pulling. Now they’re trying away again.
“It kind of goes in waves,” Conforto said. “It comes down to work and muscle memory. You see the ball that way and you feel yourself going that way.”
