David Wright (baseball player)

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**David Wright**

New York Mets — No. 5
Third Baseman
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
July 21, 2004 for the New York Mets
Selected MLB statistics (through 2006)
Average	.306
HR	67
RBI	258

Wright during 2007 spring training.

David Allen Wright (born December 20, 1982) is an all-star Major League Baseball third baseman for the New York Mets.

1 High school years
2 Professional career
3 Trivia
4 Media appearances
5 References
6 External links

[edit] High school years

David Wright was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1982, and attended Hickory High School in Chesapeake, Virginia. Wright was a fan of his future-team, the Mets, while following the Mets' AAA affiliate, the Norfolk Tides. His first baseball memory was when he was playing a family wiffle ball game when he was five. In high school, he was a three-time All-State selection and, as a senior, he was named the Gatorade Virginia Baseball Player of the Year and the Virginia All-State Player of the Year. His team included Major League players Ryan Zimmerman and B.J. Upton. He finished his high school career with a .438 batting average, 13 home runs, and 50 RBI. Although Wright had signed a letter of intent before his senior year to play baseball at Georgia Tech after high school, he opted to enter the amateur draft when it became apparent he could be selected in the first round.

[edit] Professional career

Wright was chosen by the Mets in the 2001 amateur draft as the 38th overall pick. His selection was in a special supplemental round after the first round as compensation for the Mets' loss of Mike Hampton to the Colorado Rockies in free agency. Wright was the Mets' second selection in the draft, following current teammate Aaron Heilman.

Wright progressed steadily in his first three years of minor league play, winning the Sterling award for best player on the class A St. Lucie Mets in 2003. In 2004, he quickly rose from the class AA, Binghamton Mets, to AAA, Norfolk Tides, to the major leagues. On July 21, 2004, he made his major league debut starting at third base against the Montreal Expos. Since then, Wright has been the Mets regular starting third baseman.

David Wright, along with shortstop Jose Reyes, combine to make one of the best young duos on the left side of the infield in the Majors.

Wright has expressed his admiration for the skills of third baseman Scott Rolen.^[1] Like Rolen, Wright has been an exceptional hitter in his early career. During his first major league season, he had a .293 batting average, 14 home runs and 40 RBI in 263 at bats in 69 games.

In 2005, his first full season in the majors, the 22-year-old Wright played in 160 games and batted .306 with 27 home runs, 99 runs, 102 RBI, 42 doubles, and 17 stolen bases, leading the team in average, runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, RBI, doubles, and finishing second in home runs to Cliff Floyd (34). Wright was also in the top ten in the National League for average, hits, total bases, RBI, extra base hits, and runs. Wright's diving, bare-handed catch in the August 9 loss to San Diego was voted the "This Year in Baseball Play of the Year."^[2]

Wright is noted for his unaffected politeness and outstanding work ethic. He has developed a reputation for arriving very early to the park for games and being uncommonly accommodating with fans and reporters.^[3]

In 2005, Wright began his own charitable organization, the David Wright Foundation. Its mission is to increase awareness about multiple sclerosis and to raise money for multiple sclerosis organizations and projects. The Foundation hosted its first annual gala at the New York Stock Exchange Members' Club on December 16, 2005, donating the proceeds to two multiple sclerosis centers.^[4]

In 2006, Wright was named National League Co-Player of the Week for June 12-18 along with teammate Jose Reyes.^[5] It was Wright's second Player of the Week award. He was also named National League Player of the Month for June, becoming the first Met since Howard Johnson in 1991 to capture the award.^[6] For the month, Wright batted .327 with 10 home runs and 29 RBI.

Wright also provided his share of heroics throughout the 2006 season. His first game-winning hit occurred on May 5 with a 2-out double just out of the reach of a chasing Andruw Jones in the bottom of the 14th inning off Jorge Sosa to defeat the Atlanta Braves, 8-7. Two weeks later on May 19, he hit a walk-off single off vaunted closer Mariano Rivera that just sailed over the head of center fielder Johnny Damon as the Mets rallied to beat the Yankees in the first game of the 2006 Subway Series, 7-6. He capped off the month on Memorial Day, May 29, with a single to the wall in left-center field off Arizona Diamondbacks closer Jose Valverde scoring Jose Reyes all the way from first base as the Mets defeated Arizona, 8-7. Wright also made a game-saving stop at 3rd base of a would-be game-tying single by Mike Lieberthal for the final out of a 4-3 Mets victory over Philadelphia on August 5.

Wright was voted on to his first MLB All-Star Game as the starting third baseman for the NL. During the 2006 season, Wright collected 74 RBI before the All-Star Break, breaking the Mets record previously held by Mike Piazza, who had 72 RBI in 2000. Wright also participated in the 2006 Home Run Derby, reaching the final round but finishing second to Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies. He hit 22 home runs in the contest, including 16 in the first round, the third highest total in any one round in the history of the Home Run Derby.^[7] The following night, he hit a home run in his first All-Star Game at-bat off American League starting pitcher Kenny Rogers. Wright's homer was nearly the difference in the game as the National League led 2-1 for most of the night before closer Trevor Hoffman blew the save in the top of the ninth inning. The NL lost, 3-2.

Wright ranked among the club's top three hitters in all offensive categories for the 2006 Mets, who were the top run-scoring team in the National League. Fans at Shea Stadium have routinely greeted Wright's performances with chants of "M-V-P, M-V-P." According to teammate Tom Glavine, "He's probably been our most clutch hitter over the first half of the season and he's certainly thrown his hat into the MVP talks."^[8]

On August 6, 2006, Wright signed a 6-year contract extension with the Mets worth $55 million, as well as a $1.5 million signing bonus. The contract will pay him $1 million in 2007, $5 million in 2008, $7.5 million in 2009, $10 million in 2010, $14 million in 2011, and $15 million in 2012. The contract also contains a club option for 2013 which is worth $16 million. Wright has already announced that he will donate $1.5 million to the Mets Foundation throughout the course of this contract.^[9]

The Mets captured the NL East title in 2006 and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2000. Wright struggled in his first postseason, going 4-25 (.160) in the Mets' NLCS loss to the St. Louis Cardinals and batted a combined .216 in 10 postseason games.

Wright participated in the 2006 Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series along with fellow teammates José Reyes and John Maine.

[edit] Trivia

As of March 2007, he had just bought an apartment in New York City's Flatiron District. Previously, while with the Mets, he had been staying in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.^[10]

His nickname in the clubhouse is Visine.^[11]

He is sponsored by Vitamin Water.^[12]^[13]

His batting songs are the Beastie Boys' "Brass Monkey", DMX's "We Right Here" and Zapp's "More Bounce To The Ounce."^{[citation needed]}

Delta Air Lines named an MD-88 airplane--The Wright Flight--after him. The plane's name and Wright's signature and jersey number (5) are next to the boarding door, and it shuttles between New York, Boston and Washington.^[14]