Michael Conforto

Amateur career

Conforto represented the Northwest Region in the Little League World Series in 2004. He attended Redmond High School in Redmond, Washington where he was an honor roll student. He played shortstop on the baseball team and quarterback and safety on the football team. As a football player, Conforto was recruited by Ivy League schools. Meanwhile, Conforto received offers to play baseball at Oregon, Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Washington State, Stanford and Oregon State.

As a freshman at Oregon State University in 2012, Conforto hit .349/.437/.601 with 13 home runs and 76 Runs batted in (RBI) over 58 games. His 76 RBI were an Oregon State single-season record. He was named Freshman Hitter of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. During the summer he played for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. As a sophomore in 2013, Conforto hit .328/.447/.526 with 11 Home runs and 47 RBI in 65 games. He helped lead the team to the College World Series, where he went 7 for 16 and was named to the All-Tournament Team. He was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year and was named a first-team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA). He again played for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team during the summer in 2013. Prior to the 2014 season, he was named the preseason Sporting News College Baseball Player of the Year. He finished the season hitting .345/.504/.547 with seven home runs and 56 RBI in 59 games. He again was named the Pac-12 Baseball Player of the Year. He was also a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy.

Minor league career

The New York Mets selected Conforto in the first round, with the 10th overall selection, of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft. Conforto signed with the Mets on July 11, 2014, receiving a $2,970,800 signing bonus. He played for the Brooklyn Cyclones of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League after he signed.

Conforto started the 2015 season with the St. Lucie Mets of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League and was promoted to the Binghamton Mets of the Class AA Eastern League on June 26, 2015. On July 12, 2015 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, he started in left field for the United States team at the All-Star Futures Game and collected two hits and one assist.

Major league career

On July 24, 2015, the Mets promoted Conforto to the major leagues. He made his debut later that day, picking up his first major league RBI on a groundout, but going 0-3 while becoming the 1000th player to appear in a game for the Mets. The next day, he collected his first major league hit -an RBI infield hit- as part of a 4 hit game. He hit his first major-league home run on August 3 off Marlins' starter Tom Koehler. He finished the season with 9 home runs in 56 games played. The Mets won the 2015 National League pennant, making Conforto the third player in history to have played in the Little League World Series, College World Series, and Major League World Series, along with pitcher Ed Vosberg and catcher Jason Varitek. Conforto hit two home runs in Game 4 of the 2015 World Series, becoming the first rookie to do so since Andruw Jones in the 1996 World Series.

Entering 2016, Conforto became the Mets everyday left fielder. After a torrid start in April, Conforto began to slump once May came. From May 1 to June 25, 2016, Conforto's batting average dipped to .130. On June 25, the Mets demoted Conforto to the Las Vegas 51s of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League and called up Brandon Nimmo. He was recalled in July 18 to the Mets. After his return to the Mets, Conforto began playing both corner outfield positions. He made his major league debut in center field on July 23, 2016 as a defensive replacement. For the season, he batted .220/.310/.414 for the Mets.

Conforto started the 2017 season as the Mets fourth outfielder but worked his way to a starting job. He was selected to the 2017 MLB All-Star Game in Miami after hitting .285/.405/.548 through the first half. On August 24, his suffered a season-ending injury during a swing after he dislocated his left shoulder and tore his posterior capsule. He elected to have surgery on September 2. For the 2017 season, Conforto hit 27 home runs with 68 RBIs and a .279 average.

Personal life

His mother, Tracie Conforto (née Ruiz) is a three-time Olympic medalist in synchronized swimming, and his father, Mike, an Italian American, played inside linebacker at Penn State. His sister, Jacqueline, played soccer at Azusa Pacific University. Conforto is of Italian, Spanish and Hawaiian descent.