Michael Conforto Keeps Crushing In The Big Apple

NEW YORK—Michael Conforto was considered the best pure hitter in the 2014 draft class and lived up to that billing when he raced through the minors and reached the majors the following season.

After a hiccup last year, Conforto is back to showing why he was such a touted hitter.

Conforto homered twice and drove in a career-high four runs to lead the Mets to a 9-3 victory over the Padres on Tuesday night. The 24-year-old Oregon State product now has five homers and 10 RBIs in his past eight games, the best stretch of what is quickly becoming a breakout season.

“He’s in one of those grooves that great hitters get into,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “You don’t want to mess with him.”

Conforto put his myriad hitting abilities on display quickly at Citi Field. He battled through a 10-pitch at-bat to lead off the bottom of the first and finished it with a 383-foot home run to right field to put the Mets up 1-0. He got a second at-bat in the inning after the Mets batted around, and laced a two-run single the opposite way into left field to cap a seven-run frame.

In his next at-bat leading off the fourth inning, he demolished an 0-2 curveball for a home run that landed to the left of the rising, home-run apple in center field.

“I think it’s just a product of what I’ve been working on,” Conforto said. “Using the whole field, taking what the pitcher gives me.”

Overall Conforto is batting .333 with 13 homers, 31 RBIs and a 1.138 OPS through 40 games. It’s been a redemptive performance after he struggled through his sophomore season in 2016 when he hit .220 with 12 home runs and was twice demoted to Triple-A Las Vegas.

“I thought he was trying to hit home runs last year and kind of get a little bit of an arc in his swing and it created a couple holes,” Collins said. “Right now, he’s back. He’s back to the kid we saw when he first came to the major leagues. All he’s got to do is put a good swing on the baseball, and that is what he’s doing.”

Conforto didn’t dispute Collins’ account of what went wrong last year. But now that he has rediscovered the same ability to drive the ball to all fields that made him the 10th overall pick in the 2014 draft and BA’s No. 80 prospect shortly after, all indications are he is reaching his breathtaking offensive potential.

“I don’t know how it just changes like that,” Conforto said. “I think I’m just maybe a little more comfortable, not trying to do so much at the plate. I think I had some expectations last year, maybe I was pressing a little bit. Now I just feel like I have a solid routine, a solid approach at the plate, and just try to be natural up there.”

Conforto’s big game was part of a 14-hit night for the Mets to back beleaguered starter Matt Harvey.

Staked to a 7-0 lead after the first, Harvey (3-3) overcame shaky command and finished with five innings pitched, three hits and two runs allowed, four walks and six strikeouts for his first win since April 11.

Jhoulys Chacin (4-4) took the loss after allowing hits to eight of his first 10 batters and failing to get out of the first inning. Ryan Schimpf homered and Hunter Renfroe doubled twice to lead the Padres.