Mets' Lucas Duda is an unassuming guy with powerful potential

Not much is expected from the Mets this year.  Perhaps that a good thing?  But, Lucas Duda may be a bright spot that I look forward to see at the ballpark.  

NJ com reports Lucas Duda squinted into the morning glare. The sun was blinding, but he still stared straight ahead. He leaned back into a blue dugout wall and snorted.

�Dude,� he said last week, �I�m the most uninteresting person in the world.�

A clump of blond hair jutted out above his right ear. His voice was quiet, rising when lawn mowers rumbled past. To interview Duda is to study the side of his head and experience an expert at monosyllabic discourse practice his craft. He displays little interest in discussing his future as the Mets� next homegrown slugger.

Duda�s teammates chuckle at his wit, and his coaches praise his on-field maturity. His manager gushes about the power packed within his 6-4, 255-pound frame. He exists within a protective shell, friends say, that takes time to crack.

Duda, 26, is a reserved person, a private person, a person disinterested in exuding false confidence. He tells his father he doesn�t understand the trappings of fame � the adulation, the requests for autographs, the relentless attention. The game, he says, is enough.

This may be a problem.

Because fame could be coming for Lucas Duda this season. He can tune his dial low, but his presence and potential make that near-impossible. He will be the starting right fielder on Opening Day, and bat sixth. He emerged as the team�s most consistent hitter during the final three months of 2011, and has clubbed the Grapefruit League this spring.

�His potential with the bat is unlimited,� says hitting coach David Hudgens.

Which is why you will soon get to know Duda well � even if he doesn�t quite get what all the fuss is about.

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