Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. Mike Conforto met Tracie after he and Penn State teammate Craig Coder moved to the Puget Sound area following graduation. "I can't describe the feeling," he said. Marlins during a game at Citi Field on September 2, 2021 in New York City. The father did the next best thing, getting an early flight Saturday, flying across the country with his girlfriend, Heather, his sister Carleen and brother-in-law Scott. Trade him! 10 overall) of the 2014 MLB Draft out of Oregon State University signed with the Mets on June 19, 2014 NY Mets Uniform #30ranked the No. It came during an off day from the 2004 Little League World Series, when the team from Redmond, Wash., made the hourlong drive southwest to State College. "Joe would always tell us that you're never as good as you think you are when things are going well, and you're never as bad as you think you are when you're not performing very good," dad said. Concussion. Michael Conforto is on Instagram at mconforto8. Signed with the Mets: on July 11, 2014, receiving NEW YORK (AP) Two years ago, before he was a budding star for the New York Mets and among the big league batting leaders, Michael Conforto returned home after his first summer of professional baseball and listened to some advice from his mom. In just his second game with the Mets, Michael Conforto is already making an impact. New York Mets activated RF Michael Conforto from the 7-day injured list. However, Alderson added, At this point hes still in Binghamton, and I would expect him to be over the near term., That sounds exciting, definitely, Conforto said, in an interview last week at NYSEG Stadium, of a surge to the top. Conforto grew up on tales of the late 1970s Nittany Lions and their trips to the Gator, Fiesta and Sugar Bowls. Boras noted that everybodys understanding the COVID issue and what he had the first few months of the season. Conforto acknowledged early this season he battled the coronavirus just before spring training, which would certainly explain his subpar season. He makes a lot of solid contact. In this case, we did not know, but we certainly were hopeful.. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. All rights reserved. Binghamton Mets placed LF Michael Conforto on the temporarily inactive list. While Boras predictably laid it on thick about Conforto calling him the king of diamonds as well as the king of Queens (someone alert Kevin James and Jacob deGrom) before declaring Conforto is the ace of many general managers hearts, his less boisterous statements spoke to how layered and fascinating the free agent case is for Conforto. Its just something that I had to work on, I had to be out there everyday playing and its incredible what hard work can do for you. Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. Michael Conforto was drafted by the New York Mets in the 1st round (10th) of the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft from Oregon State University (Corvallis, OR). But on Aug. 24, Conforto suffered a freak injury, dislocating and tearing the posterior capsule in his left shoulder on a swing. I was doing baseball, football, basketball.. The other was Wright in 2006It's the 10th time a Mets player has posted a 20 homer season at age 24 or youngerIs the first Mets outfielder since Darryl Strawberry to have multiple 10 or more home run seasons through age 24Had four multi-homer games (all from the leadoff spot) with his last multi-homer game coming July 28 at SeattleIs the first Met in team history to record four multi-homer games from the leadoff spot in a single seasonHas five career multi-homer games overall (also Game 4 of the 2015 World Series)His six leadoff homers were tied for most in the NL and tied for third-most in the majorsHis six leadoff homers were tied for third-most for a single-season in Mets history with Jos Reyes (2006)Had nine first-inning homers, tied for the sixth-most in the major leaguesHit his first career leadoff homer on April 21 vs. Washington (off Tanner Roark)Went 3-4 with two homers and a career-high four RBI on May 23 vs. San DiegoDrove in three of his four runs in the first inningAccording to Elias, was the first Met to have three RBI from the leadoff spot in the first inning in team historyWas also the first player in Mets history to hit a leadoff homer in the first inning and get an RBI hit later that inningOnly four other players in the last 30 seasons have hit a home run to lead off the first inning and had an RBI hit later in the inningEric Young did so for Colorado in 1996, Ryan Christenson for Oakland in 2000, Curtis Granderson for Detroit in 2006 and Ian Kinsler for Detroit in 2016Research courtesy of EliasRanked among the NL league leaders in May in the following categories (min. Conforto hit the open market when he declined the Mets qualifying offer, which would have guaranteed him $18.4 million and a chance to rebuild his value after a down 2021 in which he needed a strong September to finish with middling overall numbers (.232 with 14 homers, 55 RBIs and an OPS+ of 101, one percent above league average). BINGHAMTON Haggard town, run-down ballpark. Michael Conforto page at the Bullpen Wiki, Scores from any date in Major League history, Minor, Foreign, College, & Black Baseball, Frequently Asked Questions about MLB and Baseball, Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREE. Consistency is huge. With his father leading the way, the star 11-year-old and his teammates hung out on the sidelines of a Penn State football practice and were granted an audience with coach Joe Paterno. (Howard Simmons/New York Daily News). So what is the price for a player who checks all the boxes, albeit in a matter nuanced enough to make it difficult for a blusterous agent to deliver the hard sell? Confortos father, Mike Conforto, grew up in Altoona, Pa., and played linebacker for Joe Paterno at Penn State. When the Mets popped him with the 10th pick last year, I was shocked he didnt go before that, Casey said. Im the guy thats going to drive in runs. That was kind of the attitude I took every day when I was at Oregon State.. The son agreed, and a little while after giving his team all manner of comfort and support, Michael Conforto the son talked about "really, really special" it was to have his first four big-league hits in front of his father. Mike has 1 job listed on their profile. He played in the Little League World Series (2004), College World Series (2013) and major league World Series (2015), a feat accomplished by just two others, Ed Vosberg and Jason Varitek. Michael Conforto may have stuck his elbow out over the plate to win the game. From the day we saw you run out to left from the dugout, we just knew we were seeing a major leaguer in you! Michael the father joked about how the acquisition of Juan Uribe and Johnson makes his son only the third-newest Met position player. A few months ago the 58-year-old underwent a total knee replacement. March 1, 1993 Upon graduating in 1979, he packed up his belongings and moved West with his roommate, Craig Coder, who wanted to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Ron, an offensive lineman with the Seattle Seahawks. Fast track. A decade before he began a promising professional baseball career with the New York Mets, Michael Conforto was afforded a lens into his father's athletic past. The father knows about such hits, having been a short-yardage inside linebacker at Penn State, all 5-11, 220 pounds of him, his teammates including Matt Millen, Jimmy Cefalo, Chuck Fusina, Matt Suhey and ex-Jet Lance Mehl. The raw power was just sitting there, said Pat Casey, still the head coach at Oregon State. Tell us all about your experience so far since making it up to the big team. He'll just kind of fall back into it. As he grew older, Conforto recalls falling down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos, watching his mother swim. "Frankly, I was not the all-American linebacker at Penn State or anything," Mike Conforto said by telephone last week from Washington, "not the accomplished guy that some of my good friends were there. I knew the criticisms, I had heard about them and the coaches here talked to me about it. Though the younger Coder never made the NFL, he and Conforto opened a successful chain of gyms in the Pacific Northwest. "I think he is prepared for this," the father said. Nacido: 3/01/1993 en Seattle, WA. New York Mets recalled Michael Conforto from Las Vegas 51s. To be fair to Scott Boras, there almost certainly wont be a winter meetings next month because of the owners impending lockout (put a reminder into your phone for Thursday at 12:01 AM) where he can tweak the establishment by holding court at the biggest and most-attended press conference of the festivities. pic.twitter.com/wUXncHd4t1, USA Synchro (@USASynchro) September 30, 2014, I was a football guy first because of my dad, Michael Conforto said. "I told him that when I would walk out to compete, sometimes I would get so nervous that my hands would go numb," she recalled. Perfect Game USA rates him as the No. Its a decision, and a dilemma and a player the Mets are thrilled to have. On January 6, 2023, Conforto signed a two-year contract worth $36 million with the San Francisco Giants, containing an opt-out clause after the first season. [59] This is how Michael Conforto, the 10th pick in last year's MLB draft, hits, his swing sweet and compact, the line drives spraying from foul line to foul line. San Francisco Giants signed free agent LF Michael Conforto. Nobody was happier than the man who gave Michael Conforto his name, and half of his excellent genes. I had a feeling he was going to be a pretty good athlete, so we talked more about how to be a good teammate, Mike Conforto said, to help everyone around you be better and not get overly focused on yourself., Said Tracie Ruiz of her son: Hes the type of kid that will study a pitcher, and he will try to outthink and outsmart them while theyre trying to outsmart him., You could put him in a keg and drop down Niagara Falls, and hes coming out, Casey said of his former player. You've got a gift from God. The 23-year-old outfielder's dad also provides guidance. Getting myself into the right position to throw was a big thing for me that helped me start throwing guys out and be more accurate. To appreciate how he wound up at Jacoby Ellsburys alma mater (Conforto met the Yankees outfielder a couple of times on campus), you first must know about Confortos family tree. Nickname: Forto. "Michael was able to stay, which is a testament to how strong he is mentally and how talented he is physically.". New York extended an $18.4 million qualifying offer in November to Conforto, who turned it down to test free agency. "I'm being protected by one of the best hitters in the game," Conforto said. We present them here for purely educational purposes. It was a refreshing change of pace considering most booths would have blindly backed their team. After Dominic Smith took a knee during the National Anthem in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake prior to the game against the Marlins Aug. 26, Conforto said he supported Smith but wouldnt kneel. 01 was a great year, and that was the last time we made the playoffs, Conforto said, before quickly self-editing with a smile: They made the playoffs.. The Mets' game ended in controversy Thursday after Conforto appeared to lean into a pitch for a walk-off hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded. Sure, he hails from Pac-12 country. That procedure, performed in January 2022, kept him out for the entire season, and it remains to be seen how a year away will impact his ability to contribute in 2023. Mike Conforto was a linebacker on Penn State teams that went to the Gator, Fiesta and Sugar Bowls in the late 1970s, and he passed on many of coach Joe Paterno's favorite sayings. A painting of the play hangs in Michael's childhood bedroom. She always preached that to me. You could argue both points in this instance. If the play looked bizarre in real time, well, that's because something else may have been going on. In slow motion, it definitely looks like Conforto deliberately stuck out his elbow so he would get hit by the pitch. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. LF Michael Conforto assigned to Brooklyn Cyclones. Just heArd on the radio that Mike Conforto Sr played linebacker at PSU. Left shoulder dislocation. He was the name that popped up into my head. In order to take action, MLB would have to review the play and determine Conforto deliberately stuck out his elbow to get hit. Maybe it's just that it calms me a little bit. She obsessed over it. LF Michael Conforto assigned to Binghamton Mets from St. Lucie Mets. His current We faces its own long run of empty Octobers and fields an offense amidst a terrible outage. Left hamstring tightness. When his son ran across the diamond to left field to start the game, that's when it truly hit him: Conforto's father says his son tends to play better when he's in the stands. The younger Conforto credited Casey and his deputies, Pat Bailey (associate head coach) and Nate Yeskie (assistant coach), for improving his swing mechanics, his understanding of the strike zone and his mental approach to the game. Conforto has collected 15.7 WAR per Baseball-Reference.com, which doesnt even rank among the top 24 in Mets history. "Conforto's Career Single-Game HighsHits: 4, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Apr 15, 2012 Doubles: 1, 14 timesTriples: 1, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Apr 14, 2012 Home runs: 2, at Nevada, Apr 10, 2012 ; at Utah, May 11, 2012 Total bases: 9, at Utah, May 11, 2012 RBI: 6, at Nevada, Apr 10, 2012 ; at California, Mar 18, 2012 Runs scored: 4, Portland, May 15, 2012 Walks: 2, 6 timesHit by pitch: 2, at Oregon, Apr 24, 2012 Struck out: 3, vs Saint Louis, Mar 03, 2012 At bats: 6, at Utah, May 12, 2012 Stolen bases: 1, Portland, Apr 03, 2012. The widely held industry view of Michael Conforto transcends where he plays and for whom he works. He also saw up close what football did to his dad, who has had seven knee surgeries, including a pair of knee replacements. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. Another significant shoulder injury may have cost himThe trajectory of Conforto's career might have been changed by a dislocated shoulder. 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