First, let me say my proper mea culpa.
I was wrong about Michael Conforto. When he was signed a week after Spring Training games began, I didn’t understand why the Cubs did that. They already had Dylan Carlson in camp, he was hitting well, and there wasn’t room for two guys like that on the team.
But both did make the Opening Day roster. Carlson lasted three games, in which he went 0-for-4. He was optioned to Triple-A Iowa, played in 10 games there and was released May 10. The Phillies signed him,
he played 40 games for them in Triple-A with a .614 OPS and was released in July.
Meanwhile, Conforto settled into a bench role. He didn’t play much early on, but eventually started a few games in April and was at least competent in right and left field. At the end of April he was batting .300/.421/.433 (9-for-30) with four doubles and seven walks, perfectly cromulent numbers for a bench player.
Then came the game of May 4. The Cubs trailed 4-3 going to the bottom of the ninth. Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a triple and one out later, scored the tying run on a sac fly by Nico Hoerner.
Conforto was sent up to bat for Matt Shaw. He ran the count full and then… [VIDEO].
Well, that’s a heck of a way to ingratiate yourself with a team’s fanbase, hit a walk-off homer for your first long ball with that team.
Conforto put up very good numbers in a backup role: .240/.331/.469 with 15 home runs in 271 at-bats. He played competently in the outfield. I’ve noted these numbers before, but that’s just two fewer home runs than Kyle Tucker hit in 2026 in almost exactly twice the number of at-bats (540). And both players put up 0.7 bWAR. For Tucker that was an embarrassingly bad year. For Conforto, he seemed to settle well into the bench role.
One last note, if you didn’t already know: Conforto is from an athletic family. His dad, also named Michael, played college football at Penn State, and his mom is Tracie Ruiz-Conforto, who was an Olympic gold medalist in synchronized swimming in Los Angeles in 1984.
Conforto turns 34 in March. He’s made over $80 million in his career, including the $2 million the Cubs paid him in 2026, which was a bargain. I’d love to see him back in that role in 2027. I doubt it would cost more than $5 million. Would you do it?
