When looking back on the 2025 season of Michael Conforto with hindsight, one realizes that the Dodgers were using Conforto to answer a question that was quickly rendered moot: what do the Dodgers do if Teoscar Hernandez decides to sign with Toronto or elsewhere?
Unlike the 2021-signing of Trevor Bauer or the 2025-signings of Tanner Scott or Kirby Yates, the signing of Conforto made some degree of sense at the time. With no Teoscar Hernandez (yet) in the fold, someone had to play in the outfield apart
from Andy Pages, James Outman, and Chris Taylor.
In 2024, when playing away from the cavernous confines of Oracle Park, in 72 games, Conforto hit 17 of his 20 home runs with a slash line of .253/.323/.530 (as compared to three home runs and a slash line of .216/.292/.341).
For $17 million, if Conforto could approximate, heaven forbid match, his 2024-away production with the 2025 Dodgers, at the expense of the hapless Giants, that result would be a win-win.
Then Teoscar came back. Yes, the outfield defense with both Conforto in left and Teoscar in right would probably suffer a little. Still, Hernandez and Conforto would likely slug enough to overcome any defensive lapses in the field.
The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men
Needless to say, the plan as diagrammed did not work.
Moreover, Conforto had his worst season as a professional. Imagine a hybrid of the worst of Joey Gallo (contact), Joc Pederson (defense), and Carl Crawford (speed), and one would have an approximation of how poorly Conforto was in 2025.
To everyone’s detriment, the following sentence never applied to Conforto in 2025: “And then on this date, the Dodgers designated Michael Conforto for assignment.” Instead, everyone had to suffer through the shambolic interia that was Michael Conforto as a Los Angeles Dodger.
The Dodgers overlooked one critical statistic when signing Conforto: in 2024, with runners in scoring position, Conforto had a slash line of .217/.312/.359, which would have been an improvement in 2025.
Conforto did show promise in the spring, with Dave Roberts having the mother of all terribly wrong predictions, comparing Conforto to Teoscar in 2024:
“I think he’s going to be one of my picks to click this year as far as a guy that I think is going to really take a step forward,” manager Dave Roberts said of Conforto.
Conforto did perform well in Tokyo (both the exhibitions and the Tokyo Series) and the first week of the year, with a slash line of .368/.500/.737 (7 for 19 with a home run, four RBIs, and four doubles). I saw Conforto hit this bomb at the Tokyo Dome from my hotel in Kyoto.
Unlike 2024-Teoscar Hernandez, Conforto’s offense basically disappeared overnight after the first week of the domestic season, as breaking his season down by month generally tells the tale of offensive futility, where the Dodgers probably should have cut bait by Memorial Day or at the Trade Deadline at the absolute latest.
- March/April: .156/.303/.267, 16 R, 4 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB, 17 BB, 31 K
- May: .194/.337/.306, 8 R, 5 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 13 BB, 23 K
- June: .175/.246/.349, 6 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 4 BB, 9 K
- July: .273/.342/.485, 9 R, 5 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 6 BB, 15 K
- August: .167/.243/.273, 6 R, 4 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 6 BB, 25 K
- September: .246/.347/.344, 9 R, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 10 BB, 18 K
Still, the Dodgers kept sending Conforto out to left field. Per Dave Roberts to Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register in early May:
“I have thought about it,” Roberts said of benching Conforto at least temporarily. “I know he’s grinding right now. We’ll see. … If he doesn’t look more comfortable, to be able to give him a couple days off might make sense. But right now, I want to keep running him out there.”
Conforto had one good month in July, which was apparently enough to convince the Dodgers not to pull the trigger on Cleveland’s demands for outfielder Steven Kwan at the trade deadline. Everyone in baseball figured the Dodgers would end up with Kwan as the Guardians had the Dodgers over the figurative barrel.
Instead, the Dodgers settled on acquiring Alex Call and persisted with Conforto in left field, who rebounded slightly in September.
Conforto has been a bit of a defensive liability in left field in recent years, and 2025 was no different. Conforto had four errors in left field, which was his worst mark since 2021. Ironically enough, while at the bottom of the league for fielding percentage, Conforto did better than Kwan and Jarren Duran of the Boston Red Sox. The occasional web gem did not overcome the general liability that his glove provided in left field.
Mr. Automatic Out
Conforto’s chief sin in Los Angeles was being literally one of the least clutch batters in MLB in 2025.
The Dodger that Conforto most commonly drove in was himself. For comparison, Bo Bichette of the Toronto Blue Jays led baseball in 2025 with an otherworldly slash line of .381/.427/.626 and a wRC+ of 189 with runners in scoring position during the regular season campaign. At the literal opposite end of the spectrum was Conforto, who was tied for 4th-worst in the same situation. Conforto had a slash line of .180/.274/.300 and a wRC+ of 63, with 100 being average.
Offensive production for Conforto was the exception rather than the norm, especially in the clutch. This state of affairs caused much of the agitation of the fanbase, some more than others, reaching levels of hate not seen since Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.“
If one was pressed to find a positive about Michael Conforto in 2025, it would be that Conforto shockingly did have success against one team in 2025, not counting a single series against the Cleveland Guardians, the Sacramento Athletics, or the Boston Red Sox: the San Francisco Giants.
In 11 games against the Giants, Conforto somehow went 14 for 37 with a slash line of .378/.415/.649 in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. If Conforto could somehow play only against the Giants, he would be a second Bo Bichette.
To his credit, Conforto did not publicly complain about his generally disastrous tenure in Los Angeles. In fact, when Conforto’s batting average peaked above the Bob Uecker line of .200 for the first time since mid-April, both Conforto and Dave Roberts commented.
“That’s nice. It’s been a long time. It’s been like five months,” Conforto said.
Manager Dave Roberts also had praise for Conforto, who finally seems to be turning a corner.
“He’s off the interstate, which is a good thing,” Roberts said.
Conforto’s average made a U-turn back to the interstate and dipped back below .200 the following game, rebounding back and forth before settling just under the Uecker line at .199 to close out the year.
Conforto did not make any of the postseason rosters, which was a mild surprise considering how persistently the Dodgers kept deploying Conforto in the lineup throughout the regular year, much to the annoyance of most of the fanbase.
Kiké Hernández took over the everyday left fielder duties during the playoffs, rendering Conforto a spectator for the Dodgers’ title defense in October. Considering how disastrous the 2025 campaign was for Conforto, it would be extremely unlikely that Conforto suits up again for the team in 2026.
2025 particulars
Age: 32
Stats: .199/.305/.333/.637, 12 HR, 36 RBI, 20 2B, 54 R, 56 BB, 121 K, 1 SB, 83 wRC+, -.7 rWAR, -.6 fWAR
Salary: $17 million
Game of the year
Given that the task of picking a Game of the Year is made easier by Conforto tormenting the Giants among all teams, we must select September 20th against the Giants in Los Angeles. While he did have a 3-for-4 game with 3 RBIs in a rout in San Francisco the week before, we instead pick a 3-for-4 game with an RBI, where he provided some padding in a much more competitive contest.
Roster status
Conforto is a free agent.
