Mets icon David Wright defends recently demoted 3B, owner

Beloved New York Mets icon David Wright believes third baseman Brett Baty will emerge from his recent demotion to Triple-A Syracuse better than he was while with the big-league club this summer. 

"Every young player should go through some sort of adversity in their career…that’s what separates the players that turn out and develop mentally better than others, guys that have slumped and know they can get out of that slump," Wright said about Baty during a Tuesday appearance on New York sports radio station WFAN, per Ryan Chichester of Audacy. 

Baty received mentoring from veterans such as star shortstop Francisco Lindor, and there were signs last month the 23-year-old was righting the ship. However, Baty then went hitless in August before he was sent to Triple-A and was batting .216 with seven home runs and 27 RBI across 86 MLB games at the time of his demotion. 

"Brett, unfortunately, had to go through it in one of the biggest sports stages in the world in New York, but I think he’s gonna be better for it," Wright continued. "He’s gonna go down and dominate, and we’ll probably see him again this year. I think this little bump in the road is actually gonna be good for him long term." 

Additionally, Wright praised big-spending Mets owner Steve Cohen for eating millions upon millions of dollars to acquire prospects for proven veterans such as advertised co-aces Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer ahead of last week's MLB trade deadline. 

"I don’t think there are many owners out there that would do what Steve Cohen did, and pay down a lot of those salaries to get better players in return," Wright explained. "When you load up that farm system…and give yourself more of an opportunity to develop those core players, and sprinkle in some free agents, I think that’s how you win, and sustain winning, over a long period of time."

Cohen insisted in a letter sent to season-ticket holders that he'll field a "formidable" team next year even though he has to replace both Verlander and Scherzer in the rotation and also improve other aspects of a club that began Tuesday at 51-61 for the campaign. While the former captain sounds like a big believer in Cohen, one couldn't blame paying customers for fearing the Mets won't contend for anything of note before 2025 at the earliest.