David Wright gives advice to future third basemen Brett Baty, Mark Vientos
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Noted youth sports coach David Wright made his annual visit to Mets spring training this week, a two-day stay that revolved mostly around sponsorship/marketing duties. But on Thursday, before leaving town, he wanted to carve out time for an additional task: a chat with third basemen Brett Baty and Mark Vientos.
The Mets are entering Year 5 of their post-Wright world — it’s been longer than that if you count the final three seasons of his career, when he barely played because of a debilitating back condition — and still haven’t found a long-term replacement. There has been no heir to his hot-corner throne.
In Baty, who is considered the better prospect, and Vientos, the Mets finally might have an answer (though Eduardo Escobar will remain there to open the season). So Wright, who didn’t get in uniform or get involved in any X’s-and-O’s instruction, wanted to meet with the pair of 23-year-olds to offer advice.
“It would have nothing to do with baseball or third base or the actual game,” Wright said. “The biggest thing that I could offer them is work ethic, preparation, being a good teammate. Even though they’re young and somewhat unestablished, you can lead by example. You can be one of the first ones here. You can show that you want it on the field by the way you work.”
Wright recalled his own experiences, including as a 19-year-old in his first spring training, watching Mike Piazza practice his throwing on a back field. A few years later, when he played in the World Baseball Classic, Wright noted Derek Jeter showing up early and beginning his extensive pregame routine in the batting cage — before a pre-tournament exhibition, not even the real thing.
The importance of such commitment is among the lessons Wright sought to instill. “What they need is obviously learning to deal with failure. That’s one of the biggest things also,” he said. “You talk about a lot of these top prospects — they’ve never dealt with much failure. And sometimes you do that in the big leagues and that can be eye-opening and counterproductive to the rest of their careers if they don’t know how to handle failure early.”
Baty said: “We talked about navigating the New York market, stuff like that, being consistent from a day-to-day [perspective] and really just trying to improve . . . I told him I want to learn as much I can from him. Because he’s probably the best third baseman to come through the New York Mets organization.”
Wright had met both in years past, recalling that he was impressed with their “very thoughtful questions” even when they were further away from the majors. Vientos, a Mets fan as a kid, said Wright and Jose Reyes were his favorite players and that he wore Wright’s No. 5 through most of high school. “My next question to Baty is why he didn’t wear 5,” Wright cracked.
Elsewhere in Wright’s world, life is good. He said Thursday what he says every year, that he is happy with full-time dad duty in Southern California, comfortable limiting his baseball involvement to a mere dabbling.
He is due to return to Citi Field — for the first time since retiring — in August to emcee a NYPD/FDNY charity game. He and his wife, Molly, have three kids: 6-year-old Olivia Shea, almost-5-year-old Madison and 2-year-old Brooks David.
Wright helps coach their teams — T-ball, soccer, basketball — but is especially proud of Brooks’ apparent hitting prowess. The sweet-swinging toddler is a lefthanded hitter (righthanded thrower) and recently broke a chandelier at home, making his father “super- proud,” Wright said.
He broke out his phone to show a video of his only son, with an open stance and definite bat wiggle, squaring up a soft ball with his plastic bat. They recently upgraded him to an aluminum bat.
“He just wants to hit all day,” Wright said. “This is going to sound like this was coerced or that I make him do this, but when he wakes up from his naps or in the morning, he asks to see Daddy hit. Which is cool. YouTubing yourself feels wrong. But we show him some stuff. And he likes it. Or at least I like it.”
Which clip does he show?
“There’s a lot of highlights,” Wright said.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
