St. Louis Cardinals: Kolten Wong headed back to St. Louis

St. Louis Cardinals’ second baseman heads back to St. Louis on Tuesday for further medical evaluation.

Jennifer Langosch of MLB.com broke the news that St. Louis Cardinals‘ second baseman, Kolten Wong, went back to St. Louis on Tuesday. Wong, who sat out the opener of this series with a bad back, is just a handful of Cardinal players with some ailments. Matt Carpenter, Dexter Fowler, and Tommy Pham all have some nagging injuries at the moment.

The St. Louis Cardinals are not in the best position to stack up on injuries. The team sits just 4.5 games out of first place in the NL-Central division and just three games back of the second Wild Card spot. With twenty-five games remaining, the Cardinals need every bit of their team to make a push for the playoffs.

For Wong, 2017 has been a campaign to remember. Entering today’s play, Wong is hitting .300 with a OBP of .383. Much of the displeasure with Wong, early in his career, was with the lack of a batting average and OBP. Prior to this year, Wong had never hit above .300 and his OBP had never been higher than .327.

His performances this season have certainly revitalized his standing in Cardinal Nation despite controversial comments early on in Spring Training.

"In other injury news, Kolten Wong is no longer with the #STLCards in San Diego. Appears he’s headed back to STL for additional evaluation.— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) September 5, 2017In other injury news, Kolten Wong is no longer with the #STLCards in San Diego. Appears he’s headed back to STL for additional evaluation.— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) September 5, 2017"

Along with his offensive production, Wong has been steady at the keystone as well. After a rough start to this season, and years before, Wong was able to rally his defensive prowess he is known for and turn in a good rest of the year. Now, I am not saying he is done for the rest of 2017, but an injury to the back this late in the season never is a good sign.

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Earlier this year, Wong had elbow problems, forcing him to miss time on the disabled list.

However, after a quick stint in the minors, Wong was back and continued the torrid pace we saw throughout the season.

One thing the St. Louis Cardinals will surely miss is his bat either at the top of the lineup or right in the middle.

His OBP provided the St. Louis Cardinals an option at the leadoff spot while Carpenter was down as well.

His average, though, also provided some protection for fifth-place hitter Yadier Molina in the lineup. Ideally you’d like to see more pop behind Molina’s bat, but the Cardinals will need to figure it out.

Hopefully Wong’s injury is minimal. However there is still a chance the second baseman may miss more time. If the decision is between this season or next, hold out till next year.  In the meantime, newly promoted Breyvic Valera will have to step up in his absence.

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Once the St. Louis Cardinals know more about his injury, we will be able to see how much time he will need on the DL. Hopefully he will be able to return soon though because the Cardinals have some key games coming up.