A kid Cobb would like; Mets' Wright plays the game with old-time work, hustle, grit.(Sports) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

Byline: MIKE FITZPATRICK Associated Press

NEW YORK - A few years ago in the minors, David Wright was in a rare slump. Something like 0-for-7 with five strikeouts, his father recalls.

'He told me, `Hey dad, don't jump off a building. Everything's OK,'' Rhon Wright remembers. 'He was actually more worried about me than he was himself.'

Sounds typical of the 23-year-old third baseman driving the New York Mets' fast start one tenacious at-bat at a time. With uncommon poise, perspective and get-dirty enthusiasm, David Wright is becoming one of the toughest outs in the National League and a Big Apple icon all at once.

He pops up everywhere these days: on magazine covers, highlight reels and even MTV, where he and buddy Cliff Floyd spent one recent afternoon introducing a Kelly Clarkson video before a screaming audience of teenage girls.

Obviously, those boyish good looks don't hurt.

But what's really opening eyes around the majors is Wright's gritty, all-around play.

'He's a guy when you watch him you go, `God, I wish I had that guy,' ' Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. 'You've got to really work to get him out.'

Especially with two strikes.

A self-made star, Wright isn't blessed with the kind of jaw-dropping athleticism or natural power seen in other baby-faced studs, like Cleveland center fielder Grady Sizemore and Florida slugger Miguel Cabrera.

At 6-feet, 200 pounds with quick hands and above-average speed, Wright is plenty talented. But he's had to master the subtle skills of hitting to make himself an elite offensive player: plate discipline, using the whole field, protecting with two strikes.

Those are skills that the game's old-timers often talked about, and some, like Hall of Famers Ty Cobb or Rod Carew, actually practiced.

They seem like lost arts in today's game. But not at Shea Stadi um.

'That's something that I just remember working on as a kid,' Wright said, crediting several youth coaches who tutored him. 'When other kids were playing home run derby during batting practice, I was working on stuff. I was trying to go the other way, I was trying to hit the ball up the middle. And that's just something that's carried on.'

Now it's paying off in the big leagues - with remarkable results.

Wright entered Monday batting .387 (12-for-31) on two-strike counts with four doubles, two triples and a home run, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That means seven of his 10 extra-base hits this year came with two strikes.

Perhaps even more amazing, he was 5-for-8 (.625) on 0-2 pitches with a homer and a triple.

The deeper the hole he's in, the tougher it is to get him out. Talk about a frustrating assignment for opposing pitchers.

'I've always had just God-given ability to be able to wait, wait, wait, wait, wait and then almost hit the ball out of the catcher's mitt,' Wright said.

Batting .338 overall with three homers, 14 RBI and a .403 on-base percentage, Wright has combined with new Mets slugger Carlos Delgado to lead a much-improved offense.

New York got off to a franchise-best 10-2 start and sits in first place in the NL East after three weeks. Wright drove in at least one run in each of the first six games, a club record.

'He's a young superstar,' said catcher Paul Lo Duca.

Yet praise and attention doesn't seem to affect Wright, the oldest of four ball-playing brothers from Chesapeake, Va.

His father, a Norfolk cop for 25 years, worked out of a station just across the railroad tracks from the Mets' Triple-A park and began bringing David to ballgames when he was 5 or 6. A family of Mets fans was born, long before their favorite team selected Wright with the 38th pick of the 2001 amateur draft out of Hickory High School.

'We were just ecstatic,' Rhon Wright said.

David tore through the minors in three years and made his major league debut in July 2004, becoming the 129th third baseman in Mets history. The laughable list, which includes such stalwarts as Rod Kanehl and Roy Staiger, has even inspired satirical songs and poems. Wright already is one of only 12 players to appear in 200 games at third for the Mets since their inception in 1962. But he figures to hold down the hot corner for years to come - and he could become the cornerstone of a club that's never really had a franchise player besides Tom Seaver.

'I think he's the next Scott Rolen,' Braves third baseman Chipper Jones said, referring to the St. Louis Cardinals' standout.

Wright's defense - steady for stretches, shaky at other times - doesn't resemble Rolen's glove work yet. Wright made 24 errors last season, when he hit .306 with 27 homers, 102 RBI, 42 doubles and 17 stolen bases.

Being compared to his idols, like Rolen and Jones, humbles Wright, who says he still cuts out all the articles about himself and keeps a scrapbook.

'I still think he's kind of an aw-shucks kind of kid,' Mets broadcaster and former player Keith Hernandez said. 'Being a star in New York, there's a spotlight that goes with it. ... I don't think it's going to affect him.'

Wright knows how things are.

'This is a city that can eat players alive,' he said. 'I worked for what seems like my entire life to get to this position and I'm not going to put that in jeopardy.'

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PHOTO

Lenny Ignelzi/ Associated Press Archive HE'S ONLY 23, BUT IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS, David Wright, left, has become one of the stars of the surging Mets.

Kathy Willens/Associated Press Archive DAVID WRIGHT, left, has become one of the stars of the surging Mets.

Kathy Willens/Associated Press Archive DAVID WRIGHT is a disciplined hitter, who entered Monday batting .387 (12 for 31) on two-strike counts.

Gregory Smith/Associated Press Archive HUSTLE IS A BIG PART of David Wright's game, and he displays it sliding headfirst and safe into home against the Atlanta Braves last September.