Why Cardinals’ Kolten Wong deserves to be an All-Star

Everyone was nothing but anxious for Kolten Wong, just waiting for him to get finally called up. Two years ago, that finally happened, but there was a bitter end to all the excitement.

As you may remember, Wong got picked off at first to end Game 4 of the 2013 World Series. That one play left a bitter taste in a lot of fans’ mouths, but he has sure made up for that mistake in the 2014 postseason, where we were seeing a star being born right before our eyes.

Now, Wong is off to a hot start this year and has been one of the main contributors to the St. Louis Cardinals’ fast start this year. At the rate Wong is going, he is playing like a premier player in the National League and one of the best second basemen in all of Major League Baseball.

All this in mind, here’s why Wong deserves to be an All-Star this year.

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I know it is early in the year, but you start to recognize a lot of things once you’re about two months into the year. One of those things you notice is that Kolten Wong has turned into a monster at the plate this year.

Besides Miami Marlins’ infielder Dee Gordon, there hasn’t been much better than Wong when it comes to National League second basemen. A lot of Wong’s success this year has came with him being more disciplined at the plate.

The youngster has a 7.2 percent base-on-balls (BB) rate, which is much-improved over last year, when he posted a 4.8 percent walk rate. Furthermore, Wong is hitting for more power this year. As you all may know, he has all the bat speed in the world. You watch him swing, and his bat just explodes through the zone, which is important with the small stature Wong has.

His ISO (isolated power) is up .28 points this year to .167. This becomes evident when you watch Wong play because he is hitting a lot of balls into gaps, and is hitting a lot more balls over the wall. Kolten Wong ranks among the top five in several offensive categories for NL second basemen, including WAR, wRC+ and AVG.

Wong is also a terrific defender. He can make all kinds of plays in the hole and make some ridiculous throws, at times. Sometimes the youngster does get the best of himself and makes some mistakes that shouldn’t happen, but with such a spectacular player, simply put, those mistakes will just happen at times. His defense will become elite; it will just have to go through some growing pains at times.

There isn’t any denying that Wong is a terrific player and has become a vital cog in this St. Louis Cardinals’ machine. With manager Mike Matheny playing Wong on an everyday basis I can only see this offense’s production going up from here.

With the speed, power and hustle Wong brings to the table, it can only make everyone better. This will be Wong’s coming-out year, so be ready for the Cardinals’ terrific second baseman to get the All-Star nod this year.

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