SerpApi.Org
With his pinch-hit home run last night, Michael Conforto tied the Chicago Cubs season-long record for pinch-hit homers, held by outfielder Glenallen Hill in 1999. The game was just the Cubs’ 101st of the season, so Conforto has a good long bit of runway to stand alone in the franchise record books.
Indeed, with a few more homers, he’d actually be in the MLB record books, too:
On the season, Conforto is now hitting .243/.331/.493/125 wRC+, which has at times come with the benefit of match-up protection, sure, but has not come with the benefit of consistency. It’s hard to come off the bench, and/or start only periodically. The rhythm of hitting is real, and Conforto has been quite impressive in that regard. As a pinch-hitter specifically, Conforto is hitting an incredible .333/.379/.889/237 wRC+.
“It’s always, can you find a player that can do this job and be successful at it? And I don’t know if there’s any blueprint for it, but Michael has done a fabulous job at it,” Craig Counsell said of Conforto’s role and success, per the Tribune. “It’s a real weapon to have somebody like that. I mean, all year it feels like his biggest hits have been pinch hits.”
It’s easy to forget that this was a guy who had to sign a minor league deal quite late in the offseason, and then win a job on the Cubs. From there, he had to find ways to contribute and stay valuable where he could.
“I had an understanding of what my role was going to be, at least to start the season,” Conforto said, per the Tribune, “so just gearing everything toward how do I do that job the best that I can and tweaking my routines and learning along the way, trial and error. In some of the bigger spots, just trying to see myself in those situations and seeing the result that the team needs.”
On the year, Michael Conforto has been worth 0.6 WAR on his $2 million salary, and has a Win Probability Added of 0.63 for the Cubs.
To put that in context, selected randomly out of nowhere at all, Kyle Tucker has been worth 0.6 WAR on his $55 million salary (plus luxury tax overages that make it effectively $115.5 million), and has a Win Probability Added of 0.84 for the Dodgers.
Fun with accounting:
And, lastly, since the headline teased it and I cannot myself go with including THAT home run whenever I hear the name Glenallen Hill, I must share it. No, this was not one of the 1999 pinch-hit homers, by the way, but it’s still one of the most enjoyable baseball clips ever created:
