Mets Minors Monday! Conforto’s Vegas Vacation

It's been an odd year for Michael Conforto. He entered it as something of a boy wonder, after becoming a huge part of the Mets post season run. He had, seemingly, cemented himself a spot in the outfield and hit like he was a 10 year veteran. His April was a MONSTER. A .365 batting average, 4 homeruns, 18 RBI and and 11 doubles.

Sadly, the wheels completely fell off once he hit May. His year long batting average stands at .218. It got ugly and fast. He's now spending his second stint in the minors at Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a hitter's paradise, but it would seem that Michael is REALLY enjoying his time there.

His average over 31 games for the 51's is currently at .424. FOUR TWENTY FOUR! He's actually hitting slightly lower than that over the last 10 games, at .421.

Las Vegas, and the Pacific League in general, is heaven for hitters. The majority of the clubs are in places where there is little humidity and higher altitudes. That means pitchers have much harder times throwing curveballs and sliders. There's a serious lack of an ability to grip the baseball, and when you get to Triple A as a pitcher, you've been working on your secondary pitches to get you to the minors.

But .424 is a number that is tough to wrap your brain around. The recently yo-yo'd TJ Rivera was labeled a consummate hitting professional in the minors, and he hit .347.

The problem with Las Vegas is that it can make so called "AAAA" players looks like potential major league all stars, and that's simply not the way it works. Ty Kelly, TJ, Kevin Plawecki. They all hit well in Las Vegas.

But NOT .424.

I think Conforto has a extremely bright future ahead of him and I hope that his time in LV is a terrific confidence boost and he can carry that through the September call-ups and into Spring Training next year.

If he hit .124 points lower than his current average, I'd be ecstatic.