Michael Conforto Can’t Hit For Power

Top seven. One on. Two out. A.J. Minter leaves an 88.9 MPH cutter in the heart of the plate. Michael Conforto takes a big swing, connects, and . . . .

Ronald Acuña catches it short of the right field warning track for the last out of the inning. Instead of a 6-3 lead, the Mets lead was 4-3.

It’s an all too familiar story with Conforto this season. For some reason, he just isn’t hitting for any power. We shouldn’t dwell too much on his just having seven doubles and two homers as he did have an IL stint.

That said, those numbers over a 162 game average would be a paltry 28 doubles and eight homers. Those are Luis Guillorme numbers, not Conforto numbers.

Overall, Conforto has a .318 SLG. His ISO is .098. That just doesn’t seem possible. After all, this is a 30 home run hitter who was one of the best hitters in baseball last year.

His hard hit rate is a career worst 35.7%. His ground ball rate is a career worst 45.9%. His 7.1% HR/FB is easily the worst in his career. His Baseball Savant page is a lot of blue with Conforto having poor exit velocities and hard hit percentages.

Everywhere you look, Conforto is just having a career worst offensive season. That’s saying something too considering the year he played through a wrist injury. He’s just had more of a power outage than the State of New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy.

Now, there are some mitigating factors. The ball is deadened, and MLB is working to eliminate pitchers using sticky substances. His impending free agency is hanging over him. As noted, he’s dealt with injuries.

There’s also the Chili Davis factor. Much of what we’re seeing with Conforto is something we’re seeing with other Mets, but not as extreme. Same goes for the Cubs players whose power evaporated under Davis.

To wit, there may be hope this is just a blip for Conforto. He may just need to get into rhythm and get the opportunity to work with the new hitting coaches.

The Mets and Conforto better hope that’s the case because this team has World Series aspirations, and it’s going to be difficult to get there without Conforto hitting. Taking a step further, Conforto’s value on the free agent market is going to take a massive hit if, well, he can’t anymore.