St. Louis Cardinals: The Cards need a healthy Kolten Wong

The St. Louis Cardinals placed second baseman Kolten Wong on the 10-day DL on Tuesday.  Wong is irreplaceable in the Cardinals September run to the postseason.

Kolten Wong has been one of the catalyst in the Cardinals August surge to the front of the Wild Card standings.  His hamstring injury suffered on Saturday has resulted in the gold-glove-caliber second baseman making another trip to the DL.  If the St. Louis Cardinals make the playoffs in 2018, they will need a healthy Kolten Wong at second base.

Wong suffered what General Manager Michael Girsch called a “relatively mild strain” of his left hamstring, according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.  The Cardinals are optimistic Wong will return on or around September 5th, which is the first day he will be eligible to come off the 10 day DL.

Wong, 27, injured his hamstring running out a ground ball during Saturday’s game at Colorado.

The backup plan

With Wong out, the St. Louis Cardinals will depend on a second base rotation of Greg Garcia, Matt Carpenter, Yairo Munoz, and the recently-recalled Patrick Wisdom.  Wisdom, 27, went 4-for-12 with a home run and three RBI in a nine-game stretch earlier in August.

To complicate the Cardinals’ injury issues further, Jedd Gyorko was placed on the DL on Wednesday after suffering a left groin injury.  Recalling Wisdom will allow the St. Louis Cardinals to avoid only having a three-man mix at second until September 1st, when rosters may be expanded.

Outfielder Adolis Garcia was added to the active roster to take Gyorko’s spot.

Kolten Wong is irreplaceable

That’s right, the much-criticized Wong has become irreplaceable for the St. Louis Cardinals in their pursuit of the 2018 postseason.  No one, and I mean no one, not Greg Garcia, Matt Carpenter, Patrick Wisdom, or even Yairo Munoz can replace Wong at second base.

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Wong’s defensive acumen, especially in 2018, has been apparent.  His Rdrs/yr of 28 is the highest, by far, in his six years with the St. Louis Cardinals.  Also in 103 games, his has committed only six errors, giving him a fielding % of .985 and another career best.

Wong has also been tagging it offensively with his bat.  Although he started the season very slow, hitting below .200 for most the first part of the season, he has raised his BA to .244.  Since the All Star break, the right-handed Wong was hitting .342, 10th best in the league.  He also has eight home runs and 32 RBIs in 110 games this season.

Yairo Munoz can favorably compare to Wong’s offense with a better season slash line of .275/.341/.414 along with six home runs and 32 RBI.  However, Munoz has been an error machine with 11 errors in 39 games.  Although, to be fair with Munoz, eight of those errors were committed at shortstop, while only one was committed at second in 13 games.  Nevertheless, Munoz’s -24 Rdrs/yr at second spells out the defensive hole created by Wong’s injury.

Greg Garcia will likely get plenty of time at second during Wong’s stay on the DL and is fairly steady at that position.  However, even with a Rdrs/yr of 25, Garcia does not have Wong’s range at second base.  Also, Garcia is only batting .224 during the 2018 season.

Moving forward

Obviously getting Kolten Wong back on the field is what the St. Louis Cardinals need during September.  The energy he brings to the lineup is…well…irreplaceable.  Along with Harrison Bader, having Wong in the everyday lineup has been one of the keys in the Cardinals surge since the All Star break.

Hamstring injuries can be tricky. Nonetheless, it will be essential to get Wong back in the everyday lineup as soon as possible.  Let’s hope the injury is ‘relatively mild’ as GM Michael Girsch described.

The St. Louis Cardinals need a healthy Kolten Wong.  Thanks for reading and as always…Go Cards!