Talk about getting your licks in. Whenever David Wright goes deep or nips a runner at first, check his tongue—it’s usually sticking out, a la Michael Jordan. In going from prize prospect to big-league star in a matter of months, the young third baseman proved that timetables aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. He also has Mets fans licking their chops. Thanks to David, 40-plus years of franchise futility at the hot corner are finally over—and the storm clouds gathering above Shea Stadium may produce a rainbow sooner than anyone expected. This is his story…

GROWING UP

David Allen Wright was born on December 20, 1982 in Norfolk, Virginia, to Elisa and Rhon Wright. Three more brothers followed—Stephen, Matthew and Daniel. The Wrights lived in the suburb of Chesapeake. David’s father was a police officer who rose to the rank of captain in the Norfolk Police Department.

The Wrights were a tight-knit no-nonsense family. David’s grandparents all lived locally, and they were also very involved with their grandkids. It was a strict household with lots of rules and responsibility. Competition was encouraged both inside and outside the home, but always with respect and sportsmanship. David first excelled on the athletic field in T-ball, and though he played other sports, including basketball, baseball was always his primary focus. Like many kids in the Mid-Atlantic states, his sports idol was Cal Ripken. He also liked Michael Jordan.

On the baseball diamond, David had great instincts and a lousy body when he was a kid. He didn’t look like a ballplayer, but he could hit and field and throw as well as anyone—including BJ Upton, who played in the same Little League. The two would become close friends, frequently playing against each other and occasionally teaming up with one another.

David was a fan of the Atlantic Coast Conference schools. In fact, he made up his mind early on that he would play college sports in the ACC. He also had his heart set on becoming an engineer. The big leagues were not in his plans.

Nonetheless, David loved pro baseball. He reguarly attended games of the Tidewater Tides, the top farm team of the New York Mets. Over the years he saw players like Jeromy Burnitz, Fernando Vina, Todd Hundley and Bobby Jones on their way to the majors. David also watched the inaugural game at the new Harbor Park in 1994. The stadium was just 10 minutes from his house.

David played organized baseball both in and out of school growing up in Chesapeake. He started at Hickory High School in 1997 and made the varsity as a freshman third baseman the following spring. Under coach Steve Gedro, David blossomed into a great all-around player his sophomore year. He moved to shortstop that season and batted .471, slugged .779, hit nine doubles and four homers, knocked in 18 runs, and earned Honorable Mention All-State Honors. He and senior first baseman Josh Melvin supplied most of the power for the Hawks that year.

In David’s junior campaign, Upton enrolled at Hickory. The talented teen was 20 months (and two grades) younger than his good buddy, but they had already played together on the Virginia Blasters, a summer AAU travel team that won its share of tournaments. Off the field, the two locked horns in epic PlayStation battles. They also played basketball together. BJ could dunk and David couldn’t. In their ultra-competitive friendship (which continues to this day), Upton uses this ammo whenever they get into one of their can-you-top-this discussions.

David probably spent more time in the batter’s box than any other high school player of his era. Besides team batting practice and his own work in the local cages, he arranged his class schedule at Hickory High so he could get an hour of extra hitting every afternoon. He would snag a teammate and a bucket of balls, and they would take turns throwing to each other—even on game days.

David and the Hawks had a great season in 2000, falling one game short of the state championship. He was one of the most heavily recruited shortstops in the country. Prior to his senior season, he signed a letter of intent to Georgia Tech, where he could follow in the footsteps of the great Nomar Garciaparra. With an ACC scholarship in his pocket and an engineering future within reach, David played good, relaxed baseball all spring. So good, in fact, that he suddenly had to rethink his college plans. He finished the season with a .538 average, six homers, and 19 RBIs, and was named Virginia High School Player of the Year.

At some point that 2001 campaign, it dawned on David that he might be a high pick in the upcoming draft. He had anticipated being drafted in a middle round and was ready to turn down the offer to attend Georgia Tech. But now the big picture was changing. After talking it over with his family, David decided he would pass on college and sign a pro contract provided he were selected in the first or second round. The Mets, who had a supplemental pick at the end of the first round after losing Mike Hampton to free agency, selected David 38th overall. Former player Randy Milligan had an easy job scouting the youngster , and an even easier one convincing him to become a Met.

ON THE RISE

It took more than a month to get David’s deal done, but he signed for a $960,000 bonus and joined the Kingsport Mets of the Appalachian League in late July. He played 36 games and batted an even .300. David’s manager was former major league infielder Joey Cora. Among his teammates was catcher Justin Huber, a highly regarded teenager from Australia. The Mets had moved David to third base, and were prepared to shift him to the outfield if his new position proved too much for him.

David worked out like crazy in preparation for his first full professional season in 2002, with the Capital City Bombers of the low Class-A South Atlantic League. He continued pushing himself in practice and in pre-game warm-ups once the season started, and was shocked when he got off to a slow start. It took him a month to find his stroke, but when he did he tied Huber for the team lead in homers and finished third in the league behind Andy Marte and Walter Young with 93 RBIs. He also stole 21 bases which, given his average speed, was a testament to his baserunning instincts.

That winter, when the Mets asked the Mariners whether they could hire manager Lou Piniella, the player Seattle wanted back was David. New York hired Art Howe instead. The M’s weren’t the only club feeling out the Mets. David was the first player mentioned in nearly every one of the club's trade discussions.

David logged the entire 2003 campaign with the St. Lucie Mets of the high Class-A Florida State League under manager Ken Oberkfell. Determined to succeed and keep moving up the ladder, David intensified his pre-game workouts and may have overdone it again. For the first couple of months, his bat speed was down and he struggled to stay above. 250. He turned his season around in the second half, however, hitting over .300.

Most of the headlines went to the St. Lucie pitchers that year, as teammates Matt Peterson, Tyler Yates, Wayne Ough and Scott Kazmir were untouchable at times. David had a solid campaign, batting .270 with 15 homers and 75 RBIs—by far the best numbers on the team—and led the Mets to the FSL championship. He improved in every area, including slugging, strikeouts and fielding. He also stole 19 bases.

After the '03 season, David was sent to the Arizona Fall League to continue honing his game. He joined the Peoria Saguaros, where his teammates included Brewers prospect Rickie Weeks. David wowed the scouts with his hitting approach, driving everything from alley to alley, and adjusting to the pitchers as quickly as they adjusted to him. David also got to play against Upton, who was on the taxi squad for the Mesa Solar Sox.

David was invited to the Mets’ 2004 major league camp as a non-roster player and impressed everyone who watched him. There was no chance he would break with the team in April, but management got the feeling he would destroy Class-AA pitching when he got to Binghamton, and probably be in New York by the end of the year.

From Opening Day, David was ripping the ball, and playing good, solid defense. He was totally zeroed in to what the pitchers were doing—and not doing. In years past, if a pitcher hung a breaking ball, he would let it float by Now he was mashing these deliveries. When New York third baseman Ty Wigginton went on the disabled list early in the year, fans and the press screamed for the club to call up David. Instead, the Mets kept him at Binghamton until early June, when he earned a promotion to the Class-AAA Norfolk Tides. David batted .363 with 10 homers and 40 RBIs during his 60-game stay at Binghamton.

The Mets believed a short stint at Norfolk would give them an idea how ready David was for the pressure of big-league life. Having grown up in the Norfolk area, he would be playing in front of family and friends. Harbor Park was not exactly the fishbowl of Shea Stadium, but an interesting test nonetheless.

Though he looked cool as a cucumber, David was incredibly nervous before his first game in a Norfolk uniform. During infield warmups he bounced his first throw to first, and he was awful in batting practice. When he popped up in his first at-bat with a man on third and one out, it raised some eyebrows. Those eyebrows were lowered, however, after his next three at-bats, when he collected three hits.

There were several more multi-hit days for David during his brief stay at Norfolk. Tides manager John Stearns marveled at the way he battled with opposing pitchers, and how he was never satisfied even after getting a couple of hits. David was unfazed at Norfolk. He hit with timeliness, intelligence and power, and made all the plays in the field. He took hot smashes off his chest unflinchingly and picked up slow rollers barehanded and threw on the run to record outs. It was obvious to anyone who knew baseball that his stop at Triple-A would be a temporary one, regardless of how things shook out in New York.

Before David was promoted, a decision about the incumbent third baseman, Wigginton, had to be made. There was some thought of moving him to second base, where he could sub for oft-injured Jose Reyes, but Wigginton hit well in July and increased him trade value.

After batting .298 with eight homers in 31 games with Norfolk, David was called up on July 21 and anointed the starter. Wigginton, still with the club, did the stand-up thing and took David under his wing. But he was gone weeks later, when the Pirates offered pitcher Kris Benson and Jeff Keppinger for him and Matt Peterson. From there, Mike Piazza took over the role as David’s tutor, talking with him daily about his approach on the field and the pressures off it.

MAKING HIS MARK

In mid July, the Mets were a .500 club. But so was everyone else in the N.L. East. With an outside shot at a playoff berth, there was some question as to whether David should be thrown into the fire. The more the Mets saw of him, however, the more they realized he was exactly the kind of player who could handle the heat. Rarely was he overmatched at the plate, and he held his own in the field.

He did okay on the team bus, too. As part of the Amazins’ hazing ritual, the rookie was forced to sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

David belted out his first home run on July 26 in a slugfest with the Expos. A week into August he had a breakout game against the Brewers, crushing a 445-foot homer and knocking in six runs. David was up and down the rest of the month. After his big performance in Milwaukee he went 1-for-11 against the Cards, 6-for-12 against the Astros, and 1-for-10 against the Diamondbacks. By the end of August, though, David had shown manager Art Howe enough to earn a chance to bat in the three-hole, where he had hit at Binghamton and Norfolk. Later in the season, Howe moved David to the second, fourth and fifth spot, hoping to shake things up. David hit wherever he ended up, but the rest of the Mets never found their groove.

By mid September, David had reached double digits in homers and his average was up around .300. He was not only the club’s best hitter, he was being looked up to by many of his teammates as the kind of young leader who could pull the Mets out of their doldrums. August had not been kind to the club, as they tumbled out of contention despite pulling off big trades for starters Benson and Victor Zambrano. But injuries to Jose Reyes, Kaz Matsui and Piazza had decimated the team, which sometimes fielded lineups that looked more like the Tides than the Mets.

Confidence is everything for a young player thrust into the major-league spotlight, and David has plenty of it to spare. He seems to experience the game at a slightly slower speed than the average player, which enables him to think a step ahead, react, and adjust. It doesn’t hurt that he has nimble feet, soft hands, and a quick bat. Or that he’s one of the most coachable players in the game.

At the plate, David has the tools to be a consistent, middle-of-the-order hitter. He is learning how to work each at-bat, resisting the temptation to swing at borderline pitches early in the count, and getting a feel for each umpire’s strike zone.

David’s defense is still spotty. He is not comfortable with all the angles at third, but as a former shortstop, his fielding should come around quickly. His pre-game sessions with coach Matt Galante on footwork and throwing paid immediate dividends after he arrived at Shea.

Everyone who spends time with David talks about what a good person he is. They mean this on a number of levels, including his approach to baseball. David works hard and respects the game. He plays baseball above the neck. David has superstar talent, but he knows that ability is where baseball begins, not where it ends.