Conforto ready to be energized by Williamsport

PHILADELPHIA -- Back when Michael Conforto was a fresh face in the big leagues, and the Mets were making their 2015 National League pennant run, Conforto would often hear his name as the answer to a trivia question: He, Ed Vosberg and Jason Varitek are the only players to appear in the Little League World Series, the College World Series and the MLB World Series.
"I'm sure I'll hear it a lot this weekend," Conforto said as he prepared to return to Williamsport, Pa., for the first time since competing in the 2004 Little League event. "It's pretty special."
At the time, Conforto recalls, the Little League World Series "just felt like the biggest thing in sports." As he and his Redmond, Wash., teammates competed, Conforto went through the usual rituals of befriending rivals -- he forged a particular bond with members of a team from Saipan -- trading souvenir pins, and hoping for as much screen time as possible on ESPN.
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This time around, that last part won't be a problem for Conforto, one of three former Little League World Series participants who will compete in the Little League Classic on Sunday Night Baseball. (Todd Frazier and Scott Kingery are the others.) A recently founded tradition, the Classic pits the Mets and Phillies against each other at Bowman Field, following a day of interacting with Little League players across town.
Having not returned to Williamsport for 14 years, Conforto is curious to see how much he remembers, how much "déjà vu" he'll experience, what emotions he'll feel.
"It will be fun to hang out with the kids," Conforto said. "It will be refreshing. We're getting into the middle of August, getting toward the end of the year, just a short amount of days and games. It can wear on you a little bit, so I think just having those kids around us will energize us a little bit. I just think it will be unique. It will be different than the day-in, day-out grind of the season. So I'm excited about it."

Although Conforto reminisces about the Little League World Series from time to time, he was a year younger than most of his teammates that season, and did not remain close friends with many of them. Only one of his Redmond teammates played baseball past high school, according to Conforto, who marvels at what that group was able to accomplish.
Years before the days of YouTube, Conforto says he's never actually watched his own performance -- he went 6-for-10 with four runs scored -- in the event, despite the fact that his grandparents recorded it on a VHS tape. He is curious to see what footage ESPN unearths from its own archive, and airs on Sunday.
More than that, Conforto is eager to relive his experiences of 14 years ago.
"Just the fact that they can bring kids from all over the world, it's really unique," Conforto said. "For me personally, it made me want to continue my career in baseball. It's just a really special tournament, and I think they're doing a good thing pairing it with MLB. There's a lot of travel ball and stuff, and some kids are moving away from Little League, but I thought that was a good progression into moving into that next level of baseball."