St. Louis Cardinals: It’s Time to Give Kolten Wong Some Rest

Apr 10, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong (16) fields a ground ball to end the inning against the Atlanta Braves during the fourth inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 10, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong (16) fields a ground ball to end the inning against the Atlanta Braves during the fourth inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /
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The St. Louis Cardinals have had some great play from some unexpected areas quite early in the season. However, they have also had some unexpected bad play from some established players.

Kolten Wong is one of the core guys for the St. Louis Cardinals that are currently struggling right now. He is 10-39 and has committed four errors so far this season. All ten of his hits have been singles. Right now, Wong is dealing with a bout with the flu bug. Surprisingly, he played Monday night but went 0-1 with a strikeout and an error on defense.

We’ve talked before about Wong’s aggressiveness being something lackluster. This and his lack of discipline at the plate has gotten him into trouble and hurt him at times in his career. Right now his poor timing and swing are his most crucial flaws.

There have been claims made on Fox Sports Midwest that Wong is a player who tends to take everything a bit too hard and has to build himself up as the season goes on. I am not so sure this has much to it or if it is like their claims of Carlos Martinez being “emotional”.

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We’ve all seen this happen before though, the young hot shot player who has had nothing but success and is met with a bit of failure and can’t seem to wrestle with it.

Wong was given a pretty nice contract during Spring Training. My hope is that he is not trying to “justify” this contract as he has already done so with his previous body of work. When right, Wong is absolutely one of the best second basemen in the league.

My conclusion is that a couple days out of the lineup would do wonders for him at this point. I don’t think a stint in Memphis is necessary at this point, but a short sabbatical might work the same wonders that it did for Randal Grichuk earlier in the season.

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Wong is a player with a lot of talent, yet things don’t seem to be clicking for him right now. Whatever the reason for his slump, Matheney must give Wong some time to get his head right and his body healthy. Only then can he get to the point where he can contribute an offense that is already showing strength and longevity.

Whatever he is struggling with, it is imperative that he rights this soon to help out his team as Aledmys Diaz and Jeremy Hazelbaker will fall down to Earth soon.