The Los Angeles Dodgers made a fairly significant bet on Michael Conforto this past offseason as they signed him to a one-year, $17 million contract. But for the first half of the 2025 season, things have not worked the way either side would have hoped.
Conforto is hitting just .175 with six home runs, 19 RBI and a .600 on-base plus slugging percentage in 229 at-bats. It’s a long way from his career .251/.348/.456 slash line and 120 wRC+ entering this season.
But more recently, Conforto has started to find some success. That began on June 22 against the Washington Nationals, and has continued into July.
During that stretch, Conforto tallied six hits in 23 at-bats, which translates to a .261 average, while also hitting two home runs and driven in six runs.
“It’s definitely been better,” Conforto said. “I feel more comfortable up there, especially in situations where I can drive guys in and play a little baseball, do something to help the team win. That’s really the name of the game.
“I think there’s still some work to do, but I think a lot of the hard work has paid off.”
One key difference has been Conforto’s success against fastballs. He began the year hitting .163 against them in April with a .224 expected average, and in June, he posted a .322 expected average against heaters with a .205 average.
While that’s not a significant jump in the actual results, it shows Conforto is beginning to make more quality contact against them.
That’s been a specific focus for Conforto, who made a few adjustments with his swing.
“Opened up my stance a little bit and I kind of started a little bit bigger of a leg kick just to get myself moving a little bit earlier,” he explained. “And opened my stance up just to keep my body from getting in the way of the bat hitting the ball. Those are the things we were seeing and trying to keep tabs on.”
Conforto has previously used a leg kick as part of his swing, so he has some familiarity with it. That could be beneficial as he makes his adjustments and tries to continue finding comfort with his swing.
“It’s been a few years,” Conforto said. “I’ve kind of been more of a simple setup and simple move to the ball. I think maybe the last time was 2018, 2019, I would pick my leg up a little bit more.
“I think you just have to constantly evolve as a player. As the league continues to adjust to what you’re doing, you have to try to stay a step ahead.
“Obviously, I wasn’t consistently getting to the fastball, so we needed to make some kind of change to be a tougher out up there.”
While Conforto has found some more success recently, he will need to continue contributing to maintain his spot in the lineup.
The Dodgers have been very patient with him, but at some point, results need to show on a consistent basis.
The good news is even for all his struggles this year, a solid performance down the stretch and a nice postseason run would make both Conforto and the team forget about the first part of his season.
Michael Conforto in important stretch
With the MLB trade deadline approaching on July 31, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged it’s important that Conforto plays well as the team evaluates options. But Roberts also doesn’t want that to become a focus that distracts him too much.
When recently discussing the outlook in left field and Conforto’s ongoing struggles, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman voiced confidence in the 32-year-old. Friedman added it wasn’t likely the Dodgers would trade for an everyday left fielder at the deadline.
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