Baseball is a funny sport sometimes.  On some level, it seemed like the 2017 season was going to be about the comparison between Amed Rosario and Gleyber Torres.  You couldn’t help but compare the two.  They were both shortstops atop nearly every prospect list, and they were going to be playing in the same city.  If you remember, there was a short-lived time when comparing Rey Ordonez and Derek Jeter was actually a thing.

A lot has happened since Spring Training.  For starters, Torres got hurt.  In addition to that, the Yankees have seen the rise of Aaron Judge.  He’s seemingly a lock for the American League Rookie of the Year, and he’s in the MVP discussion.  When he won the Home Run Derby, there was some discussion about his being the new face of baseball.

In the other borough, the Mets have seen the re-emergence of Michael Conforto.

After a whirlwind 2015 season, including two homers in Game 4 of the World Series, Conforto busted out of the gates in 2016.  He quickly became the best player on the Mets, and he was soon moved to the third spot in the lineup.  Unfortunately, from there Conforto would injure his wrist, get uneven playing time, and face multiple demotions to the minors.  He entered the 2017 season without a sure spot on the Opening Day roster.  That would change with injuries and his play.

Conforto would emerge as the Mets lone All Star this season.  Through 99 games, he has hit .285/.392/.576 with 19 doubles, a triple, 26 homers, and 64 RBI.  He is on pace to become the youngest Mets player to ever hit 30 homers.  His 152 wRC+ is the 12th best in the majors and sixth best in the National League.  That 152 wRC+ is the fifth best among outfielders, and it is the third best among players under 25 years of age.  The only two with better marks are Bryce Harper and Carlos Correa.

Simply put, Conforto is one of the top young players in the game, and his career has a tremendous upward trajectory.

That’s what happens when you’ve shown you can hit anywhere in the lineup.  It’s the result of his being able to move past his struggles and be a much better player for it.  His doing this while being bounced around the outfield is all the more impressive. The question for some is whether Conforto is a more impressive player than Judge.

So far this season the answer is no.  Judge leads Conforto is every statistical category – traditional and advanced.  With that said, between Conforto’s strong second half coupled with Judge’s struggles, that gap is narrowing. In the end, we don’t know how much it will narrow.  Much of that depends on Judge’s ability to make the adjustments we already know Conforto is making.

If you ask as of right now, who is the better player, it’s Judge.  However, if you ask who will be the better player going forward, the answer is not as clear.  Most Mets fans will take Conforto, and most Yankees fans will take Judge.  Both will be justified in their decision.  In the end, the comparisons are fun, but ultimately unnecessary.

With that said, the comparisons will be unavoidable.  That goes double for when it’s Subway Series time.  Fortunately for Mets fans, the Mets will fare much better than they did in the Ordonez-Jeter comparisons.  That will also be the case when the inevitable Rosario-Torres comparisons begin.