David Wright becoming leader for Mets

BY JIM BAUMBACH | jim.baumbach@newsday.com

March 28, 2008

Hundreds of fans in Mets paraphernalia bunched together behind a chain link fence on one of the final days of spring training, their eyes gleaming with excitement.

"David! David!" they yelled. "David! David!"

The screams were loud and persistent as David Wright, dressed in jeans, T-shirt and baseball cap, moved down the row of fans, signing autographs and smiling for photos.

The 2008 Mets have a future Hall of Famer in Pedro Martinez, a two-time Cy Young Award winner in Johan Santana and longtime All-Stars in Moises Alou, Billy Wagner, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado.

But there is no question which players the fans view as the face of the team, and that's Wright and Jose Reyes.

Take a second and think about what it must be like to be in Wright's position.

How is it possible that this guy already is entering his fourth full season in the majors? Wasn't it just last week when he leaped on the scene? Check out this fact: He already has hit 97 home runs, which is 10th in team history, and driven in 365 runs.

Never mind that Wright already has scored a nice $55-million contract, has received his share of publicity thanks to dozens of magazine covers and can't walk in Manhattan without people snapping photos on their cell phones.

He's living the life of a superstar and he's only 25 years old.

Standing in front of his corner locker in Port St. Lucie, Wright shook his head when he was asked to reflect over the past few years.

Then this was proposed to him: Say he had an opportunity to go back in time to give advice to David Wright before his major-league debut in 2004; what would he say?

He squinted as he pondered his thoughts.

"Just enjoy it," he said. "This just has gone by so quickly. You try to enjoy every day. I'd say, 'Go out there and treat it as it is. It's a game. A bunch of big kids playing a game.'

"That's the kind of mind-set I've tried to bring to the table every day. Like it's Little League. Go out there and have fun with it. Don't treat it like a job. Treat it like it's a game."

Some would say that's not really advice that Wright needed, because that's exactly how he has come across since the first day he stepped inside the Shea Stadium clubhouse.

Now, four years later, Wright is considered a leader on a veteran team, a somewhat surprising role given his age and relative inexperience. But he embraces this completely.

"You're accountable," said Wright, who hit .325 with 30 homers and 107 RBIs in 160 games last year. "That's the biggest thing. Being an everyday player, as a young player you go out there and try to lead by example. I'm not a vocal leader on the team. I go out there and play the game hard."

Hitting coach Howard Johnson might know Wright better than anybody else in the Mets' clubhouse. Johnson recalled meeting Wright for the first time in the instructional league in 2001, and they've been together almost ever since. To Johnson, there's no question. Wright is a leader.

"He'll speak up and he'll say his piece," Johnson said. "But most of all, he's one of those guys who's going to show up every day, punch the clock and he'll be in there. Definitely leads by example, which to me is the best way."

As the Mets fumbled away a division title down the stretch last September, blowing a seven-game lead in the final 17 games, Wright was one of the most vocal players. He had no problem expressing his disdain for what was happening.

It's typical for players who have gone through such a collapse to erase it from their memory banks and never mention it again. Not too many Yankees openly talked very much about the 2004 ALCS collapse the following spring.

Yet in an interview toward the end of camp, Wright brought up the Mets' embarrassing finish, saying he hopes and believes everyone in that clubhouse -- his clubhouse -- has no plans to experience that again. He said it with conviction, like a team leader.

"This year, guys are going to use what happened to us at the end of last year as a learning experience and to boost us or springboard us into 2008," he said. "Nobody in here wants to feel that again. We've come out with a different tone, a different intensity than we have had in the past. I like it."