It was 7 a.m. on a late spring morning in Port St. Lucie, and 18-year-old David Wright was counting down the hours and days until spring training and its requisite early morning workouts were finally done with when he heard something coming from the major-league back fields.
“I peeked back there and saw Mike Piazza working on his catching and throwing,” Wright, now 41, remembered over the phone last week. “That really stuck with me. He’s going to be one of the best catchers to ever do it, first-ballot Hall of Famer. If this guy is putting in work to get better, who am I, as an 18-year-old, to complain about doing some early work?”
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That was the first lesson Wright took from a Mets veteran. It wouldn’t be the last.
Two weeks ago marked 20 years since Wright’s major-league debut in the summer of 2004. It came in a stadium that no longer stands against a team that no longer exists. But Wright’s experience, from heralded prospect to All-Star and MVP candidate with the help of a welcoming veteran clubhouse, remains as relevant as ever for the Mets.
“I couldn’t wait to get to the stadium to see what uniform number I was going to be,” Wright said of that July 21 day at Shea Stadium when he went 0-for-4 against the Montreal Expos. “In spring training, I was 72. As soon as I saw No. 5, I put the jersey on. I was one of the first ones there and I remember standing in front of the mirror and just staring at this jersey in almost a pinch-me moment.”
David Wright looks around at Shea Stadium before batting practice after being summoned from the minors for his MLB debut on July 21, 2004. (Julie Jacobson / Associated Press)
The 2004 Mets were a team in transition. Wright joined José Reyes, called up the year before, as the next core of a veteran team that was underperforming. But where there could have been resentment, Wright saw only reassurance.
“The veterans were incredible toward me. They gave me a hard time, which made me feel like I fit in,” he said. “It was a neat team to be around, a very veteran team. A lot of the lessons I learned that half-year stuck with me the rest of my career. I got a chance to pick a little from each veteran and apply to my game.”
Wright even received support from Ty Wigginton, whose job he was essentially taking.
“There were stories when I got called up that he was yelling that he deserved to play third base. But the minute I saw Ty, he pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, this has nothing to do with you. I’m rooting for you. I want you to succeed,”’ Wright said. “It was really cool that he did that. It could have been intimidating but he welcomed me.”
Wright found his stride by the first week of August, emerging as the main positive for a team that lost 16 of 17 at one point down the stretch. He batted seventh in his debut and third by the end of the season, finishing with a .293 average, .857 OPS and 14 home runs in 69 games. Once established in the majors, Wright said, the challenge shifts to staying there — to avoiding any complacency or satisfaction in the initial accomplishment.
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“There was a lot of self-doubt that always motivated me,” he said. “There’s always something that fuels that fire — this need to prove to myself and everybody else that this All-Star appearance or this season wasn’t a fluke and that it was the type of player I’m going to be.”
Wright turned out to be as accomplished as any position player in team history. Despite injuries that curtailed his effectiveness in his 30s, Wright ended as the Mets’ all-time leader in hits, runs, walks, RBIs and total bases, among other things. He’s entering his second year on the Hall of Fame ballot this winter.
In Mark Vientos and Brett Baty, the Mets have a pair of young third basem*n with promise. After spending parts of four seasons in Triple A, Vientos has run with his first extended chance at big-league playing time this year. It’s come at the expense of Baty, whose struggles for a second straight year landed him back in Syracuse.
“The expectations are enormous on these young guys when they get called up, so I want to be there for them — not so much for fielding and hitting but more so off the field,” Wright said. “If they struggle a little bit in New York, it’s like the world is falling.”
That’s made him extra appreciative of Vientos’ emergence this year, coming after the Mets bypassed him on multiple occasions.
“Dealing with those moments, overcoming them and turning out to be the player he’s shown this year is pretty incredible,” Wright said. “A lot of young players can learn from that.”
Wright, who serves as a Mets team ambassador, will be back at Citi Field on Sept. 12 for the annual Battle of the Badges charity game between the FDNY and NYPD. Wright will serve as the host for the night and will honor heroes from each side.
It’s an event close to Wright’s heart; his father was a police officer for more than three decades.
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“When the Mets approached me about this idea, I jumped at it,” he said. “These men and women are the true heroes in the community. There’s not too many people you can find where, when there’s trouble, they run towards it. I can’t wait to be around and thank them and be in the dugouts. I want to talk their job, they want to talk my job, and it’s just fun interacting. I really like showing my appreciation for what they do on a daily basis.”
(Top photo of David Wright from his debut season: Rich Pilling / MLB via Getty Images)
Tim Britton is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the New York Mets. He has covered Major League Baseball since 2009 and the Mets since 2018. Prior to joining The Athletic, he spent seven seasons on the Red Sox beat for the Providence Journal. He has also contributed to Baseball Prospectus, NBC Sports Boston, MLB.com and Yahoo Sports. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBritton
