Last year when Michael Conforto crumpled down to the ground in pain after a checked swing, it was every bit as much of a gut punch as when Matt Harvey‘s magical 2013 season came to an end because he needed Tommy John surgery.  The Mets future and hopes for another World Series was right there.  The bright spot in another wise lost and dismal season dimmed.

When you look up torn posterior capsule, you really feared the worst.  You feared the worst because of what you learned about the injury, but also because this is the Mets.  Things rarely break right for them on the injury front.

As Conforto rehabbed, it seemed as if the timetables for his return kept getting shorter and shorter.  With him and the Mets reporting to Spring Training, the May 1st target date seemed a bit aggressive.  After all, it was just two years ago when the Mets had given Zack Wheeler and early return date from his own Tommy John surgery only to see that date continuously pushed further back and back until the point Bartolo Colon was solidly entrenched as a starter, and the Mets were calling up Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman to help save their season.

Despite the trepidation many may have had, Conforto continued to get closer and closer to returning.  Away from the lights, he played in minor league intrasquad games where he not only homered twice, but he did it off left-handed pitching.  One of those left-handed pitchers included last year’s first round draft pick David Peterson.

As the Mets started the season we kept hearing that May 1st target date was getting pushed up not by days but by weeks.  And here we are now with Conforto getting activated in advance of the Mets first series against the Nationals.

As luck would have it, he is going to be the first Met to step into the batter’s box against Stephen Strasburg.

Mets fans have quickly become enamored with Brandon Nimmo with his infectious personality, his  smiling all the time, and with his ability to draw more walks than Da Vinci.  However, Conforto is the Mets player you want up against Strasburg to set the tone for the game, the season series, and for the divisional battle between these two teams. That is, of course, assuming Conforto is 100%.

Trusting a Mets player is fully healthy and recovered from injury is really a feeling Mets fans have grown unaccustomed.  Look no further than Harvey whose Tommy John turned to TOS and whose effectiveness and ceiling have fallen off a cliff.

So yes, at the moment, Mets fans should be excited yet cautiously optimistic about the return of Conforto.  That first big swing and miss, that head first slide into a base, and that diving play in the outfield is going to take years off our lives.  That feeling will subside over time and may emerge whenever it seems Conforto takes just that extra half second before getting off the ground or getting back in the batter’s box.

That’s the life of a Mets fan, and as Mets fans we should all take time to pray his shoulder is really 100%, and that he is about to become the superstar he was on the verge of becoming last year.  Once we see he’s really good to go, we can then all cheer with the unbridled enthusiasm we had for him last year.