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Dodgers fans laughed when the Cubs not only gave Michael Conforto a minor league deal in the offseason, but when they were foolish enough to put him on their Opening Day roster. It was really only because of an injury for Seiya Suzuki during the World Baseball Classic, and Dodgers fans were confident that Conforto would be hightailed out of Chicago as soon as Suzuki was healthy.
For a little while, that seemed like a guarantee. Conforto was hitting .111 with a .384 OPS through his first six games. On April 6, he misread a fly ball against the Guardians that ruined an Edward Cabrera no-hitter in the bottom of the sixth.
But then he actually started ... hitting well?
Since April 7, he's batting .444 with a 1.381 OPS in 27 at-bats. He's only gotten seven starts in 15 games, and was subbed out for in two of those starts, but he's been making every plate appearance count.
The key turns out to be an incredibly simple one: the Cubs don't let him face lefty pitching. He has exactly one plate appearance against a lefty so far this season.
Remember when Dodgers fans were begging LA to platoon Conforto with literally righty batter last year? Yeah...
Michael Conforto turning into a Cubs legend overnight is a nightmare for Dodgers fans
Conforto played walk-off hero for the Cubs on Monday, when he hit a two-out, 3-2, pinch-hit homer against the Reds. Neither Cubs nor Dodgers fans could believe their eyes.
To be fair, Conforto was worse against righties than lefties last year — .190/.615 against the former vs. .246/.756 against the latter — but the point here is that Conforto is clearly still capable of being effective if he's used the right way. Which is to say, if he's used sparingly.
His heroics got him a start and a complete game against the Reds on Thursday, when he collected three hits including a double and a homer, but we still expect Craig Counsell to be smart about how he employs Conforto.
It's possible that the same pressure that Tanner Scott and Kyle Tucker have admitted to feeling as members of the Dodgers was also weighing on Conforto last year. Whatever it was, the Dodgers were just never able to figure him out the way the Cubs clearly have. To say that's a little infuriating for Dodgers fans is an incredible understatement.
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