Conforto heads to Dodgers on 1-year deal
Sonja Chen
@sonjamchenDALLAS -- The Dodgers announced the signing of outfielder Michael Conforto to a one-year, $17 million contract on Tuesday.
Conforto, who turns 32 on March 1, spent the last two seasons with the Giants on a $36 million deal after missing all of 2022 with a right shoulder injury that eventually required surgery. He spent the first seven years of his Major League career with the Mets, who drafted him 10th overall in 2014.
The veteran outfielder had a largely healthy 2024 season for the first time since 2019, interrupted only by a brief IL stint in mid-May due to a right hamstring strain. In 130 games, he hit .237/.309/.450 (116 OPS+) with 20 home runs and 66 RBIs, posting the lowest single-season walk rate of his career (8.6%) but the highest full-season hard-hit rate (46.3%).
Conforto will join Tommy Edman, James Outman, Andy Pages and Chris Taylor as the Dodgers' outfield options on the 40-man roster (general manager Brandon Gomes said at the GM Meetings that Mookie Betts is expected to move to the middle infield in 2025).
Outside the 40-man options, top prospect Dalton Rushing began getting reps in left field midway through 2024 and could break onto the big league roster at that position, as he's blocked at catcher by Will Smith and Austin Barnes. The Dodgers also have interest in bringing back Teoscar Hern¨¢ndez, who would occupy a corner-outfield spot.
A one-time All-Star (2017), Conforto once ranked among the top prospects in the Mets¡¯ Minor League system. He debuted in July 2015, and was instrumental to New York¡¯s second-half playoff push, going on to hit .333 with two home runs in the 2015 World Series against the Royals. He remains one of just three players to have appeared in the Little League World Series (2004, Redmond North Little League), College World Series (2013, Oregon State) and MLB World Series (2015), along with Ed Vosberg and Jason Varitek.