Mets outfielder Michael Conforto and his bad relationship with June

The relationship between New York Mets outfielder Michael Conforto and the month of June is a sour one.

Many New York Mets fans know this fact about Michael Conforto: when he plays well, the team tends to win.

It makes sense. He has typically hit in the middle of the order. He’s one of the unsung growing stars in the league, held back only by a low batting average and some inconsistent play.

Just as the Mets win when Conforto is swatting balls well, they tend to lose when he goes into a slump. You don’t need to look much further than his June numbers to see a correlation.

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Lifetime, Conforto has slashed .195/.306/.355 in June. This, over 376 plate appearances, is a shocking total for a guy whose second-lowest average in any month is .249. Although he’s not known for hitting for a high average, it’s this middle-season month that’s really dragging him down every season.

To my surprise, Conforto wasn’t a complete butcher in June of 2019. During this weak month from the orange and blue, the slugging lefty hit .229/.303/.429 with six home runs. It was actually the best June performance of his career.

The Mets were famously much worse in 2018. However, Conforto was still slightly better than his career slash line at .198/.327/.374.

Conforto didn’t debut until July of 2015 which took away a rookie opportunity to play in this typically horrific month. In 2016, after a hot start where he entered May batting .365/.442/.676, the kid hit a wall. He batted just .169/.242/.349 that month and followed it up with worse June. In 66 trips to the plate, Scooter hit only .119/.182/.237.

Strikeouts were a major issue for him with 22 coming in those 66 opportunities. Some quick math and we can tell this equals out to a shameful walk back to the dugout once every three chances.

Conforto improved slightly in June of 2017, his All-Star campaign, but still only hit .206/.383/.317. In March/April, May, and July he hit over .300 in what one could argue was his breakout campaign.

June has been a miserable month for Conforto and the Mets these past two seasons. In four opportunities to participate in the month, Conforto has yet to come away with a season anywhere near what he’s capable of.

There’s no particular logic for it. We can speculate that it’s mid-year and he’s starting to feel the grind or nagging injuries are beginning to bother him. Maybe he just has a phobia akin to Mackey Sasser and throwing the baseball back to the mound.

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Conforto was one of the best Mets players of the last decade. You wouldn’t know it if you only saw him in June.