After quite a bit of deliberation and numerous delays, the Mets finally decided to place outfielder Michael Cuddyer on the 15-day disabled list with a bone bruise in his left knee on Friday.
The Mets made the bold choice of purchasing the contract of OF Michael Conforto from Double-A Binghamton, who will replace Cuddyer on the active roster.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Conforto, the Mets transferred Rafael Montero to the 60-day disabled list.
It certainly is a banner day for the Mets organization, as they made the bold and highly-anticipated move to promote their top prospect from Double-A.
It’s not a promotion through a lack of merit. Conforto tore up the Florida State League with Single-A St. Lucie, twice earning Player of the Week honors before being promoted to Double-A Binghamton in mid-May After hitting .283/.350/.462 with seven home runs and 28 RBI in 46 games with St. Lucie.
But he didn’t stop there. He performed even better upon being promoted to the B-Mets, earning the Eastern League Player of the Week honors for July 13-19. He hit .312/.396/.503 with five home runs and 26 RBI in 45 games with the B-Mets.
From what I understood of the situation, there were absolutely no plans to bring Conforto here at all this season a month ago. In fact, there were no concrete plans to send him to Las Vegas, either. They wanted their prized offensive prospect to complete his first full professional season at Double-A.
The internal debate seems to have always been bringing him here with the pressure to perform in a pennant race, with a lackluster lineup around him. At this point in the season, there’s no time for growing pains, and there’s a legitimate concern promoting him too soon could dwarf his development.
This debate lasted into late Thursday, according to people with the team.
But he has exceeded everyone’s expectations very quickly, and quite frankly, he is the last man standing and has earned this promotion. That doesn’t speak highly about the Mets, but it’s where they are as an external acquisition has remained absent to date.
There will very likely be growing pains and adjustments for him to make. Everyone – from the team to the fans – will just have to stay patient with him. But he is a smart kid with a beautiful swing who has a very good idea about what he is doing, so hopefully he can grow up sooner than everyone expected and be a part of a fun summer with the Mets.
Conforto becomes the 1000th player to play for the franchise in Mets history.
You can listen to Conforto discuss his quick rise through the farm system here:
Just Mets 