As the Mets continue to prepare for the 2023 season, a bunch of former players and coaches are making their way through Port St. Lucie as guest instructors. Guys like Edgardo Alfonzo and Darryl Strawberry have been spotted at camp this week. Another dude that’s made the rounds in PSL is the Captain, David Wright.
The former third baseman was only at camp for a couple of days, but he was quite visible within the media and on the interwebs. One of his main tasks was to spend some time with Brett Baty and Mark Vientos, which happened.
Wright also sat down for a discussion with veteran Mets PR man, Jay Horowitz. He chatted with the media in the dugout for about 15 minutes, too. But in the midst of New York’s 6-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves at Clover Park on Thursday, SNY’s Steve Gelbs grabbed a few minutes of his time.
You can check out the near-five-minute conversation here. They talked about a handful of things, but what caught my attention the most was the subject of his two-year-old son.
In Wright’s memoir with Anthony DiComo, The Captain, he talked about being absolutely obsessed with the game as a kid. At every opportunity, Wright was doing some sort of baseball-related activity. When he talks about his son, it sounds like the exact same situation. That makes sense — it’s in the kid’s blood.
Outside of his gene pool, there are three other reasons why this kid is already destined to be a big leaguer:
- While chatting with Gelbs, Wright mentioned his son broke a chandelier while they were hitting inside the house. The Captain admitted he is proud of that, but it’s time to start moving their batting practice outside. His swing already sounds better than many three and four times his age.
- During his media session before Thursday’s game, Wright mentioned his son wakes up from naps asking to “see Daddy hit”. So, Wright has to YouTube himself for them to watch some highlights. He’s already studying film.
- The kid’s name is Brooks David Wright. Brooks Wright. We don’t know the reasoning for naming him Brooks, but is there a better baseball name than that? And having the same first name as a Hall of Famer and 16-time Gold Glove winner is just a bonus.
Gelbs also asked Wright what he misses about baseball. Unsurprisingly, the Captain said he misses the grind of preparation and the competition. He also said he’s looking forward to his kids getting old enough so he can beat them in ping pong and air hockey.
But how does he fill the competitive urge as he waits for them to get older? Here’s what he said:
I strike out my two-year-old with his wiffle ball bat. I’ll try to get nasty and throw some breaking balls to him, or try to speed it up a little bit on him.
Once an athlete, always an athlete. Even if his back won’t let him do it as much as he wants to.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
