White Sox Interested In Michael Conforto

The White Sox have some interest in free agent outfielder Michael Conforto, according to Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Conforto was with the Dodgers in 2025 but never seemed likely to return there even before Los Angeles made their stunning agreement with Kyle Tucker last night.

Conforto, 33 in March, is coming off a few down years. His best stretch of play was with the Mets earlier in his career. Through the end of the 2020 season, he had 623 games under his belt, with a .259/.358/.484 line and 128 wRC+. He was good for 30ish home runs from 2017 to 2019 and then hit nine over the fence in the shortened 2020 season.

He hasn’t really been at that level since. His production scuffled in 2021, with just 14 home runs and total offense closer to league average. Shoulder surgery wiped out his 2022 season entirely. He then signed a two-year deal with the Giants. In 2023, he was again around league average overall, with 15 home runs for the year.

The second year of that pact was a bit more encouraging. Conforto hit 20 home runs and slashed .237/.309/.450. That line was 12% better than league average by measure of wRC+. That wasn’t up to his prime years with the Mets but was his best showing in a while.

It was also possible to squint and see the potential for more. His first half was interrupted by a hamstring strain and he never seemed to get into a groove. He stayed healthy in the second half and caught fire, with a .272/.337/.543 line and 143 wRC+ in his final 169 plate appearances.

The Dodgers decided to make a bet on that hot finish, signing Conforto to a one-year pact worth $17MM but with deferrals. That didn’t work out. Conforto slashed .199/.305/.333 on the year for an 83 wRC+. The Dodgers did not carry him on the roster into the postseason.

After that down season, his earning power should be lower than it was a year ago. He would therefore make sense for the White Sox as a buy-low option who theoretically has some upside. He has only sporadically shown that upside lately but even his down 2025 season had some theoretical reasons for optimism.

His 11.5% walk rate last year was quite strong. His 24.9% strikeout rate a tad high but pretty normal for him. His .247 batting average on balls in play was quite low, so he may have had poor luck on the year. His Statcast data wasn’t elite but wasn’t poor either. His bat speed was in the 77th percentile of big leaguers. His barrel rate was 56th, his hard hit rate 53rd and his average exit velocity 48th.

The Sox are deep in a rebuild and won’t be contending soon. They would be one of the clubs best suited to take a flier on Conforto and hope for a return to form, as a contending club would presumably prefer a player with a more impressive recent track record. If he has a strong first half, he could then be flipped at the trade deadline for a prospect or two.

Chicago’s outfield currently projects to include Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Benintendi in two spots. Those two are themselves candidates to be traded this year. They could each also stand to spend some time in the designated hitter slot, given their injury histories.

Brooks Baldwin, Tristan Peters, Derek Hill, Everson Pereira and some other young players should be in the mix for outfield playing time. Baldwin and Peters still have options and could be sent to the minors. Hill and Pereira are out of options but are the kind of fringe roster players who could clear waivers and be outrighted to the minors as non-roster depth.

With Tucker now signed, the outfield free agent market has Cody Bellinger up top and then a notable gap to the other options. Harrison Bader would arguably be the second-best option, with guys like Conforto, Mike Tauchman, Austin Hays, Miguel Andujar and others forming the next tier. Max Kepler would have been in this cluster somewhere but he recently received an 80-game PED suspension. That cuts into his appeal both because he’ll miss the first half of the season and then wouldn’t be eligible for the postseason.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images