It was Michael Conforto who hit the game-winning home run in the ninth inning of the Mets' 5-4 win over Philly on Saturday night, but the key to it was a new Mets hire: Donnie Stevenson.
Wait, who?
You can check the media guide, the press box, or any organizational directory, and there is no such person named Donnie Stevenson listed anywhere – but apparently, at least to Conforto and Pete Alonso, he is a "new hire" as a "hitting and approach coach."
"Donnie, he's nice. He's a great hitting approach coach, and he's been great helping the team," Alonso said in his postgame Zoom. "I think Luis (Rojas) forgot to mention Donnie, but he really helped us today. I feel like we had a really cool collective team approach today, and Donnie helped us out for sure."
Apparently, the Mets had a players-only hitting meeting before the game, and that's where Donnie showed up. Seemed to work for Conforto, who had three RBI including the winning homer.
"Donnie's a new guy, he made an appearance today at our hitter's meeting. He's all about the approach," Conforto smiled. "He's a hitting approach guy. He's a guy that just gets the boys fired up and ready to go. So yeah, there is a new guy. Maybe I gotta give credit to Donnie. He got my approach right."
Sounds like a Jimmy Fallon sketch in the making, or perhaps Bobby V's alter ego in that fake mustache from years past, but apparently, even Mets owner Steve Cohen is on board:
Hey, even when you're worth 11 figures, it never hurts to be cost-effective when doing business!
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