MIAMI -- After initially hesitating to have Michael Conforto make his first professional start in center field at spacious Marlins Park, New York Mets manager Terry Collins relented Sunday and placed Conforto in the lineup at the position.
With Yoenis Cespedes being restricted to left field because of a quadriceps strain, and with Collins not believing Curtis Granderson has the requisite range for center field any longer, Conforto gets the assignment against Miami Marlins right-hander Jose Urena.
“We’ve got to get his bat in the lineup. That’s why he’s here,” Collins said about Conforto. “There’s no other place right now. We’ve got to sit Grandy if we put him in right. ... We’re not swinging great. Lefties hit this guy [Urena] by the numbers. He’s here to hit right-handed pitching. So we’re going to get him in there.”
With the Mets trailing by four runs, Conforto entered as a pinch hitter on Saturday and remained in the game to log his first three innings in professional baseball in center field. He caught the only shot in his direction.
“It was one fly ball,” Conforto said. “But as far as how it felt out there, I felt pretty comfortable. I’m just going to be getting more work at it every single day.”
Conforto started doing pregame work in center field only last Monday at Wrigley Field. He had just rejoined the Mets after a three-week stint with Triple-A Las Vegas to get his hitting on track.
The Mets have two legitimate center fielders available on the major league roster. But Collins hopes to primarily use 2014 Gold Glove winner Juan Lagares against left-handed pitching. And Alejandro De Aza has not produced enough at the plate to warrant regular duty against right-handed pitching.
Collins plans to insert Lagares late in games with a lead as a defensive replacement for Conforto.
Collins recently had suggested that Conforto would be better served waiting to play center field until the Mets returned home on Monday since Marlins Park is quite expansive in the outfield. But the manager did a U-turn upon further consideration.
“He’s been taking fly balls every day during batting practice,” Collins said. “It’s tough to judge in batting practice. We’ve got to get him out there. And if it’s not here, it’s in New York. If you’re going to have a guy that you’ve got to figure out if he can handle something, on the road is a better place than at home. So we’re going to find out if he can play there today.”
As for the health of Cespedes’ right quadriceps, which has put the Mets in this pickle, Collins added: “He’s not 100 percent, but he’s good enough to play. We need him in the lineup. Center field is not a spot that right now he can probably play without aggravating it. So we’ll leave him in left field.”