PORT ST. LUCIE — He’s on the cover of the media guide and is slated to play center field and bat fourth. That’s all the Marlins are asking of Preston Wilson, stepson of Mookie.

Preston — who was one of the youngsters who made Mike Piazza a Met on May 22, 1998 — is the main man in Miami. After hitting a rookie-best 26 homers last season, and putting up a .280 average, he finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting behind the Reds’ Scott Williamson.

But he could’ve done all this where his stepfather did it — at Shea. Right?

“I think everything happens for a reason,” the 25-year-old Wilson said before the Marlins defeated the Mets, 7-6, yesterday and before he hit a Fresno Bobby Jones curve into the trees beyond the left-field wall. “Who is to say the same opportunity would’ve happened with the Mets?”

Mookie, the Mets’ first-base coach, agrees with his son. The opportunity might not have been there with the Mets. Even though this would be a storybook ideal way for things to work out.

“The game is different now,” Mookie said. “As fate has it, I think it worked out for the best.”

It may have as Preston is relied upon heavily with Florida. If he were with the Mets, he may be in a situation where he was fighting for a position.