St. Louis Cardinals showed a measure of good faith by giving their second baseman of the future a new contract. They need Kolten Wong to step up sooner rather than later.
Suffice it to say, Kolten Wong has not done well by the St. Louis Cardinals organization since accepting a five-year deal worth $25.5MM in March of this year. There is also a team option for a sixth year at $12.5MM in 2021. Judging by how things are going now, the club will need to be patient with Wong.
The emergence of Cuban defector Aledmys Diaz has certainly brought on some instability to Wong’s job security. Diaz is capable of playing shortstop and second base and right now is mostly filling in for an injured Jhonny Peralta at short. However, Peralta could begin a rehab assignment as early as next week.
Upon his return, Diaz would likely slide over to second base. The 25-year-old is currently hitting .376/.405/.658 with six home runs and 20 RBI in 117 at-bats. Wong’s slash line of .229/.313/.313 with one homer and five ribbies over 83 ABs pales in comparison at the moment.
Wong has shown in the past he is capable of playing big league ball at a high level. But with the Cardinals being in the National League, there’s no designated hitter slot for an extra bat. Given Peralta’s track record and veteran savvy ways and Diaz knocking the cover off the ball right now, Wong seems like the odd man out in the short-term.
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Long-term wise, Diaz is under contract through 2017 and Peralta the same. Jhonny is getting up there in age at 33 and likely won’t be re-signed, but Diaz getting an extension is something the front office will look at seriously if his production persists.
A possible replacement for Peralta in one and half years time could be prospect Edmundo Sosa. He’s only playing Class Single-A ball right now and is 20 years of age, but still is on people’s radars ranked as the No. 5 prospect in St Louis’ system.
The likeliest scenario is Diaz will be a long-term replacement once Peralta exits and Wong will continue on with his full-time duties at second base. Whether he flourishes into the player the Cardinals thought he would be or not remains to be seen.
Wong has more than enough experience at the major league level to be accustomed with the speed and requirements of playing the game. He first saw action back in 2013 before playing in over 100 games each season from 2014-15. He’s mostly seeing at-bats against righties and is not hitting them or lefties very well at all this year(.232/.214).
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Baseball is forever a season of two halves. Right now, Kolten Wong’s start can be chalked up to a slow first half with the Cardinals. Check back in after the All-Star break to see if he has began living up to his true potential. Or perhaps more importantly, how well Diaz and Peralta are playing in August.