PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — If you’re looking for a changed Michael Conforto, you aren’t going to find one.
The Mets’ outfielder had such a promising start to his big league career two seasons ago, and he looked to pick up right where he left off in 2016. Instead, after hitting .365 in the month of April, he fell so hard back to earth that he was demoted to Triple-A. Conforto hit .169 in May and an even worse .119 in June. Against lefties, he hit just .104 the entire season.
Then came Jay Bruce from Cincinnati, and Conforto all but became irrelevant.
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“There was some expectation there that I wanted to exceed,” Conforto said. “I got off to a great start and hit a rough patch of failure a little bit.”
OF Michael Conforto
The fact that Conforto admitted defeat was key in helping him move past it.
“When you’re talking about professional athletes, they don’t like to be embarrassed,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “They don’t like to have to deal with failure.”
But Conforto never lost sight of what made him successful in his rookie campaign. So why change what got you there? He didn’t overhaul his swing, his mechanics or his mindset. The only thing he changed was his “baby fat” percentage, according to hitting coach Kevin Long.
“Yeah, that was my term,” Conforto said, laughing. “I just changed my habits a little bit, my diet and just started doing things a little bit more healthy, I guess. I stopped eating out so much and started making my own food, making sure I had meals for after my workouts and stuff. I had some intense workouts and I worked really hard this offseason.”
The work hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“When you come into camp in great shape, that immediately shows how dedicated you are to coming in and making an impact,” Manager Terry Collins said. “He’s got himself in outstanding shape, he’s bound and determined to make this team and be the guy he was in 2015 and I wouldn’t put it past him.”
Conforto’s path back to the outfield and back to relevancy started with eating habits and continued to his swing. He worked on utilizing his lower half and connecting it better with the top in order to use all of his strength and drive the ball.
But the next step is one that he knows is out of his hands. Collins has promised him as many big league at-bats as possible, but if Jay Bruce can return to old form and Curtis Granderson and Juan Lagares continue to cover ground in centerfield, Conforto may find himself stuck in the dugout or even back in Triple-A again.
All he can do is be himself this spring and hope it’s enough to turn some heads and change some minds.
“I was trying to do a little bit too much, wanted to pull the ball a little bit,” Conforto said. “But really, it was a combination of a lot of things and I think going through that has really helped me grow as a player. I learned a lot about how you get yourself out of those things and not to panic. We play so many games and there’s so many opportunities. Just stay within yourself and be your own player and do what you know how to do.”
Abbey Mastracco may be reached at amastracco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @abbeymastracco. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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