MIAMI — Michael Conforto didn’t need convincing Monday that he belonged on the Mets’ bench, after his season-long doldrums intensified during a disappointing homestand.
“I have to play better, that is the bottom line,” Conforto said before the Mets opened a four-game series against the Marlins.
Conforto sat for the second time in three days, without a guarantee he would return to the lineup Tuesday. On Sunday he went 0-for-2 with a walk against the Reds that placed his anemic slash line at .196/.324/.324 for the season, with six homers and 24 RBIs.
Brandon Drury started in right field in Conforto’s place for the second time since Saturday.
“We want [Conforto] to work and find himself rather than being a little too mental at the plate,” manager Luis Rojas said. “He’s not mental when he’s not playing, so he’s not beating himself or anything.
“The approach today is to work on finding himself. Michael could be back in [Tuesday’s] lineup. The homework for him is to simplify things and just go out there and look for a pitch and crush it.”
Mets hitting coach Hugh Quattlebaum told The Post he was “perplexed” by Conforto’s homestand, in which the outfielder produced at a .133/.235/.167 clip. That came after Conforto blasted three homers on the Mets’ last road trip, through Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
“I think everybody was perplexed by it,” Quattlebaum said. “You think obviously he has turned it around and you don’t have to worry about him anymore and my reaction to it is he’s never had to think much about his mechanics and he’s always just hit.
“He’s got a really good outlook on it. He’s working his absolute tail off to get it right. He knows as frustrating as this is it’s all character building and he’s going to get something good out of it.”
Conforto, who heard boos at Citi Field last week, said he has told Rojas he will arrive at the ballpark each day prepared to play, but would understand if he’s not in the starting lineup.
He admitted he also was surprised his season didn’t turn around after his solid stretch in the games following the All-Star break.
“I felt good and honestly I felt a lot more like myself and this game will bring you right back to your knees,” Conforto said. “It was frustrating to go through that, to feel like I had it going, but you’ve just got to keep moving forward. No sense in looking back and wishing I could have done things differently in games following that.”
“A big part of it is approach. I need to be ready to hit. It doesn’t matter when, when the ball is in one of my hot zones I have to be ready to hit and I have been missing some pitches. It doesn’t matter what pitch they are, typically if it’s in the heart of the plate I do damage with it and right now I’m not doing that. Mechanically I think the approach will iron out some of those issues.”
Does seeing a .196 batting average on the scoreboard affect a player mentally?
“Well, .236 does something to people, so yeah it does,” Quattlebaum said. “But [Conforto] is as strong mentally as anyone I have ever seen in this game. It’s going to affect everybody, but he’s got the mental fortitude to take a punch.”