By Cory Giger

cgiger@altoonamirror.com

Michael Conforto grew up in Washington state and made it back to Altoona, his father’s hometown, just a few times when he was a kid, so he has only hazy memories of those trips.

“I remember a lot of good food and just being surrounded by so many loving family members,” said Conforto, who’s from a very large local Italian-American family.

“I remember a wedding, a lot of family – like overwhelming – and I just remember not wanting to dance at the wedding. I think I was like 6 or something.”

Wait, don’t all 6-year-olds like to dance?

“I was a shy kid, I guess,” he added with a smile.

Conforto might be somewhat of a stranger to the city of Altoona, but not to the more than 100 extended family members who are from here.

They couldn’t wait for him to come back.

This time as a professional baseball player.

The New York Mets promoted Conforto, one of the top prospects in all of minor league baseball, to Double-A Binghamton on Friday. It came just in time, too, with the B-Mets visiting the Curve for a three-game series at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Conforto’s father, Mike, grew up here and graduated from Altoona Area High School in 1974, then went on to play football at Penn State as a linebacker. He graduated college in 1979 and left the area, settling in Washington and raising a family.

Michael’s mother, Tracie Ruiz-Conforto, isn’t from the area but does have a fascinating athletic background herself. She won two gold medals in synchronized swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

“I get asked about her and my dad a lot, and I enjoy talking about it,” Michael said. “They made me who I am, and they raised me the right way I feel like. I have a great sense of pride for my mom’s accomplishments and my dad’s accomplishments.

“It’s pretty cool to be able to say that your mom was an Olympic athlete and was the best in the world at what she did. It’s interesting because she really doesn’t talk about it or bring it up, and she never really pushed that sport on my sister or me. She always pushed us to be competitive in whatever we wanted to do and always try to be the best in the world because that’s what she did.”

Young Michael obviously inherited some tremendous genes when it came to sports. He’s always been good at baseball and made it back to this region when he was 12 playing in the Little League World Series, plus he played quarterback in high school.

Toward the end of his sophomore year, baseball experts could see Conforto had a chance to be special and started talking to his father about the importance of stressing the sport more.

That strategy has paid off big time.

Conforto played in college at Oregon State, was an All-American and two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year. The outfielder emerged as a sensational prospect and wound up getting selected by the Mets with the 10th overall pick in the first round of last year’s draft, picking up a $2.97 million signing bonus.

It didn’t take long for the family to realize that, with Binghamton in the Eastern League, Conforto’s path to the majors would include a stop in Altoona.

“A while back we sort of were looking at where the teams were and the leagues they play in, and I had known before the Mets would be playing in Altoona,” Michael’s father said.

That opportunity finally arrives this weekend.

The 22-year-old Conforto began the season playing at high-A St. Lucie in the Florida State League, and he excelled, hitting .283 with seven homers and 28 RBIs in 46 games. He was named the league’s player of the week twice, the second time coming just a few days ago.

There was a feeling around the Mets organization nearly a month ago that Conforto needed to be promoted to Double-A, and the club waited until the perfect time to do so with Binghamton in Altoona this weekend.

“I have so much family here and so many people I haven’t seen in such a long time, and that’s really exciting to me,” Conforto said. “For (my Double-A debut) to be here and not some other park in the Eastern League, I think that’s pretty special. It almost makes you feel like those things happen for a reason.”

Conforto flew into State College and really enjoyed going past Beaver Stadium, where his dad played college football. Then he hopped in the car and drove to Altoona.

“I got kind of an interesting feeling driving into here knowing that my dad grew up here and I have a ton of family here,” he said. “It almost felt like home a little bit.”

It should. Michael’s grandmother, Regina (Colabove) Conforto, has five of her six sisters still living in Altoona. Some of the local names he’s related to include: The families of Gene Adams, Marty Marasco, Jim Carrieri, Phillip Mainello and Mary Grace DeAntonio (the Fred Stormer family lives in Portland).

Most of those families have a bunch of kids, and a bunch of grandkids, so Conforto’s local extended family extends a great distance.

“We’re very proud of him,” his great aunt, Carol Marasco, said. “We’ve been hoping for this that he’d come this way to play.”

About three dozen family members made a trip to Ohio last summer to see Michael play during his rookie year with the short-season Brooklyn Cyclones.

“The whole family is very proud of him,” great uncle Marty Marasco said. “We’ve watched his progress as he’s grown. He’s a great athlete.”

Only a few family members were at PNG Field on Friday because Michael wasn’t going to play in the game. He didn’t arrive at the ballpark until right around game time, but he’s expected to be in the starting lineup playing left field tonight.

Conforto tore it up at the beginning of the season in St. Lucie, hitting .348 over his first 18 games. Mets fans wanted to see him come up to Double-A then, but the organization wanted him to get a little taste of adversity first.

That did happen, as pitchers in the Florida State League made some adjustments, and Conforto learned the most important lesson about minor league baseball.

“It was just kind of a wakeup call for me to know that I always have to be adapting just like everyone else is,” he said. “You can’t go out there and just play on pure ability.

“With failure there’s always success. That’s how I look at it and just try to keep learning. It will definitely be a new experience for me in Double-A, but I definitely think I’ll keep learning and keep improving.”

It’s amazing, really, that his first chance to do that comes back in Altoona. Almost like the Mets planned it that way.

“He was really excited about it,” his father said. “I think he just feels that pride from me.”

As excited as he is now, Conforto is already looking forward to the B-Mets’ next trip to Altoona from Aug. 11-13. The entire family is planning to hold a massive reunion in town then, with people coming from all over the country to attend.

One of them will be Conforto’s grandfather, Louis, who’s known by his family as Cheech.

“My grandpa’s my biggest fan,” Michael said. “He’s got a shrine of all my stuff in his bedroom.”

Cheech and Regina live in Seattle, so they were able to watch Michael excel in high school and college. But they haven’t yet seen him play in person at the professional level, which they’ll be able to in August.

“It would be incredible,” Michael said of playing in front of so many family members in town for the reunion. “I think I’d almost be nervous with so many of my family members there.”

This weekend, then, can serve as a warm-up. Michael plans to get together with some family members when he can, then his father, grandparents and many more will visit in August.

“It’s just cool to be back here,” Michael said.