The Mets drafted Michael Conforto with with the tenth overall selection of the 2014 first-year player draft out of Oregon State University. And already, he’s making noise in the middle levels of the Mets minor league system.
He began his professional career at Low-A Brooklyn immediately after being drafted last summer, and posted an .851 OPS in his first 42 games as a pro.
He skipped Single-A Savannah and was thrusted right into the Florida State League in 2015, and he’s done nothing but impress over the first month of the season. He’s hit .286 with six home runs and 22 RBI in 30 games for Single-A St. Lucie, a notorious pitchers league, and was named FSL player of the week in the first week of the season.
His performance has impressed Dickie Scott, the Mets Director of Player Development, to the point he could be on the rise through the Mets system again “relatively soon,” according to Lynn Worthy of the Binghamton Press and Sun Bulletin.
“He opened everybody’s eyes in spring training,” Scott said, according to Worthy. “We sent him over to major-league games this year and he performed very well. He’s just an advance hitter.”
Presumably, Conforto will replace Brandon Nimmo in Binghamton, who should be promoted to Las Vegas in a month or so. But it’s conceivable Conforto could go to Binghamton sooner, according to Marc Carig of Newsday, as he’s done so well in the Florida State League that the opposition has stopped pitching to him in some circumstances, which doesn’t do him much good as he continues to develop his bat.
Despite the early success for Conforto, Scott warned it would be unwise to rush Conforto through the system.
“As much as you see guys performing at the A-ball level, Double-A level, going from Triple-A to the big leagues is a huge jump,” Scott explained. “I’ve heard people say you don’t truly learn how to hit until you get to the big leagues. Well, you build that foundation down here.”
The organization typically likes to have their hitters record around 600 plate appearances in the minor leagues before getting here. Circumstances can differ depending on the player, and in Conforto’s case, it’s clear his bat is well advanced given his age and talent level. That puts him over a year away from being considered.
It will be interesting to see how he performs when he’s promoted to Double-A, which is widely considered the most difficult jump for any player in the minor leagues.
Because his bat is so exciting, the one thing about Conforto which often gets overlooked (but is very important) is his defensive development. Mets people have been generally pleased with Conforto’s improvements in the outfield since he got here, but it remains a new position for him. So, the more time he gets out there before he ultimately arrives here, the better his overall game will be when that happens.
Just Mets 