Michael Conforto leaves Mets' spring training game with back tightness

Michael Conforto left the Mets' spring training game this afternoon after experiencing back stiffness. The discomfort came after a swing. The 23-year-old outfielder was removed from the game following a strikeout. Conforto chalked it up to the long bus ride to the game.

Conforto hit .271/.335/.506 during a promising rookie campaign after he was called up in late July last year. If his 134 wRC+ wasn't enough to draw everyone's attention, his two-homer Game 4 cemented his status as a rising star.

The left-handed slugger is poised to enter 2016 with lofty expectations as the Mets' starting left fielder. The Mets begin their season on Sunday, April 3 in a World Series rematch against the Kansas City Royals. If the back stiffness is more than a spring training blip and causes him to miss any time, the Mets could go with a platoon Alejandro De Aza and Juan Lagares in the outfield.