SAN FRANCISCO — There might not be a bigger hot-button topic in the Mets’ organization than Michael Conforto, still regarded as a building block in the team’s future, even if the details are a little hazy.
After bursting on the scene for the final two months last season and helping the team reach the World Series, the Mets’ 2014 first-round draft selection has bounced between the majors and Triple-A Las Vegas this year in a “puzzling” regression, according to general manager Sandy Alderson.
Conforto, 23, has a .218/.297/.414 slash line with 11 homers and 33 RBIs in two stints with the Mets this season. His latest demotion to Las Vegas came on Aug. 13, with Conforto squeezed out from a lefty-hitting outfield mix that included veterans Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson and Alejandro De Aza.
Within the organization, the debate had raged whether Conforto belonged in the lineup every day with the Mets to work out his troubles or if his opportunities needed to be earned. Conforto’s biggest weakness was facing lefties, against whom he was hitting .109 in 46 at-bats.
“Usually, the good [players], you keep putting them in there and they get through it,” hitting coach Kevin Long said, noting his experiences with young talent such as Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera with the Yankees. “Jay Bruce was talking about that. He was able to play every day [in Cincinnati], whether it was a lefty or a righty, and he figured it out. The luxury wasn’t here to do that, and ultimately who it hurts is Michael Conforto.”
Alderson doesn’t buy the argument Conforto should have been afforded the luxury of playing every day.
“Sometimes you don’t play a guy to protect him against tough pitching to get him going and then play him every day,” Alderson said. “We never got to the point where he legitimately should have been playing every day. He played quite a bit.”
Conforto began the season hitting down in the order, but was moved to the No. 3 hole on April 15 in Cleveland. A surge followed over the ensuing two weeks that had the Mets believing their left fielder was on the path to stardom. The seeds were planted last year, when Conforto hit nine homers over the final two months of the regular season. In the postseason he hit three homers, including two in Game 4 of the World Series against the Royals.
But when May arrived this season, Conforto stopped hitting. He was batting just .146 over a seven-week stretch before his first demotion. Upon his return, he hit just .190.
“You have got to take the good with the bad,” said a talent evaluator who disagrees with the manner in which the Mets have handled Conforto this season. “If you are going to get rid of a guy like that, you would have gotten rid of Granderson a long time ago. For a guy like Conforto, I think you’ve got to take the good with the bad and let him have his sophomore jinx and fight through it.
“I get it, he’s hitting .220, OK, but Granderson is hitting .220, but he’s making a lot of money so he’s going to play. You can’t do that to your future.”
Conforto sizzled in his first week since returning to Las Vegas, hitting .652 with two homers. Included was a 4-for-4 performance against a lefty starter. He is expected to return to the Mets in early September, when rosters expand.
“The bottom line, you’re going to go down [to Triple-A] and you know you’re going to play every day, you know you’re going to get your four or five at-bats and you’re going to get better,” Long said. “I think that is half the battle with him. I think he was putting added pressure on himself and trying to do too much. When you do that, things can unravel and unravel in a hurry.”
But with Granderson signed through 2017 — the final year of his four-year contract worth $60 million — and the Mets expected to pick up Bruce’s option for next season, the equation is muddled about where Conforto fits. In addition, the Mets have Yoenis Cespedes signed for two additional years, but he can opt out from his contract after this season.
“We’ll approach it the same way we did this year: [Conforto] is going to be a key part of our team,” Alderson said. “He’s a very mature guy, which is why some of this has been a little bit puzzling, but we’re still very high on him, as is the rest of the industry.”
Conforto’s upside, according to the talent evaluator, still is immense.
“I think he’s an All-Star,” the evaluator said. “He’s a good outfielder, he’s got a good arm. He can hit lefties and he can hit righties, but just because he was whatever he was against left-handed pitching — I’ll bet you can go back and look at a stretch for a lot of other good hitters that had stretches like that.”
Conforto’s closest friend on the team, Noah Syndergaard — the two have shared a Manhattan apartment this season — said the outfielder has the right emotional makeup to handle the challenge he faces.
“One thing I have noticed is he stays emotionally pretty level-headed,” Syndergaard said. “He doesn’t get too high on himself, he doesn’t get too low on himself, especially since it’s been such an emotional rollercoaster for him.
“But we’re all pulling for him up here, he’s such a great guy in the clubhouse and an even better competitor on the field, so I want him up here as bad as anybody.”