The Cardinal hopeful were somewhat confused April 27, 2014 by the demotion of Kolten Wong to AAA Memphis. Well, at least I was. Sure, sure, he had a slow start to the season, but I was confused at the movement (and other moves, that shall remain nameless) on that day.
April 25th was the last day that Kolten Wong started for the Cardinals before being sent back down. He was recalled May 15, and got the start May 16. While Wong was in triple-A Memphis (sidebar, he did not play the April 26 game against Pittsburgh, I will include that game in these numbers), the Cardinals played 17 games. Those games were against the Pirates, Brewers, and Cubs. The Cards lost 9 games in that stretch. Won 8. Record: 8-9 without Wong.
Now, I’m not saying that Wong is the end all be all of second basemen. Their record before he was sent down was 13-11: not great, but it was still a winning record. For those of us who are members of Cardinal Nation, it’s hard to swallow our team going below .500, even if it’s for just one game. Until Wong was called up, this was a big threat.
I would never be one to question the decisions made by Mo. He knows what he’s doing, I think he’s proved that time and time again. As a matter of fact, I’m going to praise him for this one. Maybe this was his plan all along. Maybe he knows how to handle Kolten Wong just right. Maybe we should all just keep our questions to ourselves.
Long story short, Kolten Wong was sent down to the minors, after his batting average had dipped to .225 in the majors. While in Memphis, Wong hit .344 in 15 games with 5 steals, 2 homers, and 10 runs batted in. If his performance against the Braves in this just completed 3 game series is any indication (5-11, 2 stolen bases and 3 RBIs), I think that he’s ready to stay up for good.
Kolten Wong is probably more instrumental to this team than has been recognized. He’s ready to play. His attitude and emotion are infectious. His speed on the bases is close to unbelievable. His defense? Although I haven’t mentioned it in this post, he’s pretty darn good at that, also. Fielding percentage as of this moment is .967.
My faith in Kolten Wong has officially been restored.
Although there was a disappointing loss today, I’m also happy to say: welcome back, Jaime!
Go Cards!
Photo Credit: http://www.baseballamerica.com
