Former Mets J.D. Davis, Michael Conforto wonder what could have been in New York

SAN FRANCISCO — By last year’s trade deadline, the excitement that Michael Conforto and J.D. Davis felt during their ascendent 2019 felt like eons ago. Once part of a promising young core in New York, Conforto’s shoulder rehab had kept him off the field all season, and Davis’ patience was wearing thin as he struggled to see the field consistently despite a clean bill of health.

“Football players and basketball players, they can go in and just say, I want to get traded,” Davis said. “As a baseball player, you can’t. You’re more under the organization’s thumb and you just have to do what you’ve got to do. … I was very outspoken in saying I just need more reps.”

Davis had voiced his displeasure. He’d heard murmurs leading up to deadline day. So when his phone rang in the visitor’s clubhouse at Nationals Park last August, Davis wasn’t surprised to hear the voice of Mets general manager Billy Eppler on the other end. Where he was headed, though, took Davis by surprise.

“My head turned,” Davis said, “because I was like, no way, I’m going home right now. This is the best case scenario for me.”

Davis, an Elk Grove native, was shipped to San Francisco, where he was immediately assured of more stability and playing time. The returns have been nothing short of spectacular for the two players in that deal, Davis and Darin Ruf.

Davis has been one of the majors’ most productive right-handed hitters since the trade, and his locker in the Giants’ home clubhouse is now directly the player once dealt for him. As for the Mets, who also sent the Giants three pitchers and are on the hook for all but the major-league minimum of the remaining $3.25 million owed to Ruf, Eppler said it was “a trade that didn’t work out, plain and simple.”

Conforto, who grew close with Davis during their three years together with the Mets, said he was “really happy” to see Davis get a chance.

“I always felt like if he could get into the lineup consistently, he could be an All-Star, Gold Glove guy,” Conforto said. “I think he’s super talented. Hits the (expletive) out of the ball. He’s got serious pop the other way. So I was really fired up to see he’s getting a little bit more of an opportunity and being closer to home.”

After signing a free-agent contract with the Giants, Conforto is back together with Davis in the middle of a major-league lineup.

That they are in San Francisco, not Queens, was an outcome that neither would have predicted three years ago.

As they made a playoff push in the second half of 2019, Davis and Conforto were as much members of the Mets’ promising young core as Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo. While they eventually fell three games short, they pulled themselves into the race with a stretch of 14 wins in 15 games during July and August and stayed in the race until the finish line, winning 14 of their final 20 games.

Conforto hit a career-high 33 homers, second only to Alonso’s 53-homer Rookie of the Year campaign, including a walk-off in the final week of the season. And it was Davis, whose .896 OPS was also a career-best and second only to Alonso (.941), who might have delivered the most memorable moment of the year, losing his shirt in a postgame celebration after hitting a walk-off homer for their 13th win in 14 games during their summer streak.

“We were just a group of young, talented players,” Conforto said. “We thought, just like when you always think when you’re a young player in this league, that those are the guys you’re going to be around your entire career. We thought we’d be together.”

“It just fell apart,” Davis said. “The front office just kind of blew away, like a Forest Gump feather in the movie. That idea just blew away, it just fell through.”

On the Baseball-Reference page for that 2019 Mets team, there are current headshots of the club’s top 12 players.

There are 10 caps represented. Only two sets of players are wearing the same ones: McNeil and Alonso, with the Mets, and Davis and Conforto, with the Giants.

“I don’t know if I could tell you why we’re not all there,” Conforto said. “It’s just kind of the paths we were on. But I know that me and J.D. are happy where we’re at. We really like this organization. We had fun in New York and we were able to grow our careers but personally I’m very happy to be here.”

Notable

Conforto (calf) started in right field for the first time since last Wednesday, when he tweaked his calf on the base paths … Joc Pederson (wrist) is likely to be activated from the injured list on Sunday, when the Mets have right-hander Tylor Megill on the mound. … Facing David Peterson on Saturday, their eighth lefty in their past 12 games, the Giants continued to miss Mitch Haniger (oblique) and Austin Slater (hamstring), who remained on their rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento.