David Wright believes Mets fans should be 'excited' for future
The Mets’ season did not go the way the organization had envisioned, instead trading away veterans at the deadline last week in order to acquire young talent.
But former Mets third baseman David Wright believes that is reason for optimism.
Wright, who was at Citi Field on Thursday for the NYPD-FDNY Battle of the Badges charity baseball game (which was postponed due to rain), spoke to SNY’s Chelsea Sherrod about how the 2023 season panned out and his feelings on the direction of the franchise.
“If I’m a Mets fan, obviously I’m disappointed but I’m excited to what the future holds,” he said. “In my opinion, sustained success comes from the farm system. Sustained success comes from building from within. As a fan, I would love to see some of these young, homegrown developed players turn out to be the core group that leads this organization to its next championship.”
The Mets have already given a handful of young players looks this season, including Francisco Alvarez, Mark Vientos and Brett Baty, the latter of whom was recently optioned to Triple-A Syracuse after being called up in mid-April.
Wright, when discussing failure, specifically mentioned Baty and how the struggling young third baseman can use this as a learning experience.
“I’ve said it before, I think that every young player should fail at some point early on in their career. Not necessarily this stage, in minor leagues somewhere where you learn to deal with some failure,” he said. “…If Brett Baty can go down to the minor leagues after struggling a little bit here, turn this around, see the light at the end of the tunnel, come back with that renewed confidence of saying, ‘hey look, I know what kind of player I am, it wasn’t the player I was the first chance I got but I’m going to get this second chance and take a hold of it’ I think that would go a long way for any young player.”
As for how long it may take for the Mets to be a serious championship contender, Wright believes it all depends on just how good these young players really are.
“If they can force the hand of the organization and be a part of this solution a lot quicker, I think everybody will be happy,” Wright said. “I’m counting down the days until we see these guys in a Mets uniform in the big leagues and see what they can do. If I’m a Mets fan I’m excited for the future.”
