Jacob deGrom is one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. And much like his fastball, the Mets right-hander has a fiery competitiveness that we may not always see out on the mound.

His former teammate, Mets great David Wright, provided a case in point during an episode of SNY's "The Cookie Club" with J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith on Wednesday.

"The fire that burns within him is amazing," Wright said. "It's not like outwardly, where you're gonna see him breaking a lot of stuff."

That's where the story took a turn from serious to comedic.

"I do have a great memento from Jake," Wright continued. "He came in after his second or third poor start, which is shocking that he'd have that many poor starts, and he ripped his jersey off. And buttons are flying everywhere and he just threw it in the middle to the ground.

"And I'm just trying to -- like I'm being serious from afar, but I'm trying not to laugh. So then he's trying to pull off his Nike [under]shirt, like he's trying to Hulk Hogan it. And he's going and he's going and he's going, and it won't rip. So finally, he just sits in his chair and he looks at me and goes, 'I give up.'"

Yes, that's the same guy that regularly throws around 98 mph from the mound. But hey, he's not a professional T-shirt ripper. He's paid to pitch.

"When he's out on the mound, it's like a mano-a-mano thing," Wright said. "Not only does he want to beat you, he wants to embarrass you."