Why Dodgers Michael Conforto is Dave Roberts | College News

PHOENIX — Michael Conforto isn’t the new Teoscar Hernández but.

But as Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned Conforto final week, he couldn’t help however observe the similarities between the 2 veteran outfielders.

Last yr, of course, the Dodgers struck gold once they signed Hernández to a one-year, $23.5-million contract. It began a low-risk flier, meant to fill a short-term need within the Dodgers’ lineup and provides Hernández a probability to rebuild his stock after his free-agent market didn’t develop as he hoped.

It was a shrewd acquisition that helped key the group’s run to the World Series, with Hernández rising as an important hitter within the center of the lineup — he batted .272 with a career-high 33 home runs, and finally grew to become the group’s clean-up hitter — the Dodgers re-signed him to a profitable three-year, $66-million contract this winter.

In Conforto, the group is hopeful of getting comparable returns again.

Just like Hernández final yr, Conforto enters 2025 at a crossroads level in his profession, with the previous All-Star slugger coming off a couple underwhelming seasons with the San Francisco Giants that left him in search of a rebound alternative in free company this winter.

And, similar to Hernández, Conforto picked the Dodgers with the objective of reigniting his manufacturing offensively, hopeful their hitting employees and participant development division might unlock the sort of numbers he posted in his peak years with the New York Mets, when he hit 97 home runs and had an .864 OPS from 2017 (when he earned his lone All-Star choice) to 2020.

“He’s going to be one of my picks to click this year, as far as a guy that I think is going to really take a step forward,” Roberts mentioned of Conforto, who signed a one-year, $17-million deal with the Dodgers to be their main left fielder. “Not saying he’s Teo of ‘24, but that’s kind of the light I see him in.”

Once seen as a rising star within the sport, as a former first-round draft choose with a highly effective left-handed swing, Conforto’s ascent has stalled over the past 4 seasons.

After posting profession highs in batting average (.322) and OPS (.927) during the pandemic-shortened 2020 marketing campaign, Conforto slumped by means of a lot of 2021, batting 90 factors decrease (.232) whereas lacking more than a month that summer time as a result of of a hamstring harm.

Things acquired worse the next offseason. After turning down a qualifying offer from the Mets and getting into the free-agent market for the primary time, Conforto injured his shoulder whereas coaching during MLB’s lockout, resulting in a surgical procedure that sidelined him for all of the 2022 season.

In January 2023, Conforto signed a two-year, $36-million deal with the Giants. But, whereas battling lingering results from his process and the pitcher-friendly circumstances of enjoying in Oracle Park, his outdated ranges of manufacturing by no means totally returned, resulting in a .238 batting average and simply 35 home runs mixed over the past two years.

“Missing a year of baseball, it’s not an easy thing to do,” Conforto mentioned final week. “I think it just took me a while to feel like myself and kind of get the at-bats under my belt to get to the point that we’re at now. It’s going to be a work in progress continuously.”

This spring, Conforto’s work with Dodgers coaches has begun yielding encouraging outcomes.

After beginning Cactus League play with just one hit in 12 at-bats, the 32-year-old is six for 11, together with three doubles and a long home run to proper subject in Friday evening’s 6-4 win over the Seattle Mariners.

He has displayed his trademark control of the strike zone (his profession 11.9% stroll price is nicely above league average) and, as Roberts put it, “is covering a lot of pitches” over totally different components of the plate.

He is making more durable contact when connecting with the ball, too, assured he is getting nearer to the pre-injury model of his swing.

“They didn’t necessarily want me to change from what I’ve done well in the past,” Conforto mentioned of the swing adjustments he and Dodgers coaches have labored on in camp. “It was more about getting back to where I was in the middle of my career … loading right and having good timing and staying through the middle of the field. That’s really the biggest thing.”

A change of surroundings figures to benefit Conforto.

Last yr, Conforto’s numbers on the highway (.253 average, .852 OPS) dwarfed what he posted at cold, windy Oracle Park (.216 average, .632 OPS). When the Dodgers signed him this offseason, it was one of the primary components president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman cited within the group’s analysis, noting that they had beforehand expressed curiosity in Conforto finally season’s commerce deadline.

“It’s not often for a guy [to be] both a floor-raiser with ceiling,” Friedman mentioned then. “There’s a real professional at-bat in there, but also with some upside.”

It was related pondering, after all, that led the Dodgers final offseason to take a gamble on Hernández, who was additionally coming from a pitcher-friendly ballpark in Seattle. That partnership helped the membership win a championship. In Conforto, the group sees somebody who might be essential of their attempt to repeat.

“I’ve been welcomed into a pretty elite group of really confident players, guys who’ve done a lot of things in their careers and are great leaders,” Conforto mentioned. “There’s a culture of success around here. That’s a hard thing to build. But they’ve definitely built it here.”