Dodgers Manager Reveals Plan For $17 Million All-Star Amid Brutal Struggles

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Michael Conforto has had a difficult start to his first season in blue, batting well below league average and having the second worst batting average in MLB at .134.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hasn't given up hope on Conforto despite his abysmal numbers at the dish, saying it's “easy to bet on him because the head is still there, the work is still there.”

“He’s just got to keep taking good at-bats, and they’ll fall,” Roberts added. “A guy that’s been around for so long, I think he can handle this five weeks of adversity.”

Conforto's season began well, as he recorded a hit in all of his first six games — as well as seven of eight — while tallying a two home runs and five RBIs along the way.

April was not kind to the 2017 All-Star selection, as the outfielder slashed a measly .123/.281/.205 in the month, and carried a 10-game, 0-for-31 streak into May when he finally broke it Monday against the Miami Marlins. He has only recorded one RBI since his second home run of the season on April 5.

“This game will kick you down. It will kick you when you’re down. It can be cruel,” Conforto said to the LA Times. “So sometimes, you just have to lean on what you know you are as a player, and all the support you have around you … and keep going straight ahead, keep working.”

The veteran has found success in the past, batting .322 in the shortened 2020 season, and hitting 27 home runs with an OPS of .939 during his All-Star campaign. He has never finished a season with a negative WAR, but currently sits at -0.7.

Since his hit against the Marlins, Conforto has found himself in another hitless spell, failing to record a hit in any of his last 10 at-bats since. He was out of the lineup on Friday against a left-handed pitcher, but came in late as a pinch-hitter, going 0-for-1 with a hit by pitch.