Michael Conforto joining the Dodgers is about what’s left in more ways than one

The Dodgers have signed Michael Conforto, or at least agreed to terms, as the deal is not yet officially finalized. But he probably won’t be the last outfielder they bring in this offseason (or maybe even this one). Week). What remains is key to the Conforto addition in several ways.

First, the long-awaited reunion with Teoscar Hernández should still happen. It was wise for Hernández’s camp to wait until Juan Soto signed to make the decision, as the handful of suitors who passed on Soto can now turn their attention to Hernández or Anthony Santander, the top two remaining outfielders in free agency -Agent market.

Signing Conforto “is unlikely to eliminate the Dodgers from the race for Hernández,” Jack Harris and Mike DiGiovanna reported in the Los Angeles Times. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic and Mark Feinsand of MLB.com also expressed similar views.

There will be time to add more, but first let’s look at what Conforto brings to the Dodgers.

In many ways, he is similar to Hernández, although they hit on opposite sides of the plate. Hernández joined the Dodgers after struggling in his pitcher-friendly home park in Seattle in 2023, hitting just .217/.263/.380 with an 81 wRC+ at T-Mobile Park, compared to .295/.344/.486 with a 126 wRC+ on the road. He won a Silver Slugger Award with the Dodgers and led National League outfielders in home runs (33) and RBI (99) in 2024.

“It all comes down to confidence at home,” Hernández said last January during his introductory call over Zoom after signing with the Dodgers. “If you looked at my numbers, there was a big gap between playing at home (in Seattle) and playing away. It was about developing more confidence at home and trying to do the same things I did on the road.”

During his two-year contract with the Giants, Conforto hit .225/.308/.353 with an 88 wRC+ at Oracle Park in San Francisco and .248/.332/.471 with a 119 wRC+ on the road. In 2024, 17 of his 20 home runs were hit away from home.

Batted ball data suggests Conforto was a better hitter than his final numbers indicated in 2024, when he hit .237/.309/.450 with a 112 wRC+. According to Baseball Savant, Conforto’s expected batting average was .257, with an expected slugging percentage of .479. His xwOBA was also .350, compared to his actual wOBA of .327.

The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly, who has covered Conforto for the past two seasons, said: “Someone wanted to make a smart investment in Michael Conforto, and it doesn’t surprise me that it’s the Dodgers.”

What Conforto brings to the Dodgers is a left-handed hitting outfielder, an area where the team struggled in 2024.

Jason Heyward was the Dodgers’ platoon hitter in the left side outfield, but was sidelined in various stints on the injured list because of back strain and a bone bruise in his knee. He was released in August after plummeting on the depth chart. James Outman was unable to replicate his strong 2023 rookie season, struggling badly early this season and by mid-May he was back in the minors for the majority of the remainder of the season.

These two accounted for 72 percent of the Dodgers’ plate appearances as left-handed outfielders. The performance of the left outfield group as a whole was quite poor, hitting just .176/.251/.298 with a 57 wRC+, ranking last among 30 major league teams.

Conforto was a career .257/.359/.479 hitter with a 128 wRC+ against right-handed pitchers, compared to .232/.314/.392 with a 96 wRC+ against right-handed pitchers. He did hit better against lefties in 2024 (145 wRC+ compared to 102 against righties), but that was an outlier for him.

With the Giants, Conforto was used more as a platoon hitter, starting half of the 78 games against left-handed starters during his two years in San Francisco, while he started against left-handed starters 73 percent of the time in his final five years as an active player Mets (2017-21). After returning from a right hamstring strain in June, Conforto started just 11 of 28 games (39.3 percent) against lefties, compared to 67 starts in 74 games (90.5 percent) against righties.

We don’t know yet if the Dodgers will use Conforto since the roster isn’t finalized yet. But he offers the potential for outfield production on the left side of the field, something that has been sorely missing in 2024.