NY Mets: Brett Baty, Mark Vientos have the perfect mentor at spring training
By Kristen Wong
NY Mets’ third basemen Brett Baty and Mark Vientos met bona fide legend David Wright this spring training.
Last Thursday, New York Mets legendary third baseman David Wright visited his former team’s spring training and worked closely with prospects Brett Baty and Mark Vientos.
Wright told reporters last week that he planned on helping Baty and Vientos with whatever they needed but noted that he wanted to share mostly non-baseball-related advice.
The former first-round pick by the Mets spent a decade and a half in New York, racking up seven All-Star seasons and cementing his place as a one of the franchise’s best third baseman in history.
It turns out he can serve as an admirable mentor, too.
"“The biggest thing I can offer [Baty and Vientos] is work ethic, preparation, being a good teammate. Even though they’re young, you can lead by example. You can show that you want it on the field by the way you work…. The goal here is to obviously win, but also to become the best baseball player that you can be.”"
NY Mets legend David Wright passes the baton to Brett Baty, Mark Vientos
Wright also touched upon his own spring training experiences and how he learned many valuable lessons from Mike Piazza and Derek Jeter, none of which were necessarily related to baseball.
In his pseudo-coaching role, Wright noted that the Mets’ third basemen prospects didn’t need to learn “the X’s and O’s” or how to “hone their craft,” but rather they needed to learn how “to deal with failure.”
Wise words from a wise man.
At the end of the interview, Wright added that if he had to pick, his favorite third baseman would be Vientos because Vientos wore Wright’s number, No. 5, as a kid.
Both Baty and Vientos will be looking to make some major improvements this season, and they each have a long way to go before getting even a sniff of Wright’s celebrity status in New York.
Next. 1 Manny Machado backup plan for every team that was interested. dark