JUPITER, Fla. — With manager Mike Matheny and other Cardinals officials watching, the second baseman they want to see seize the job bopped from field to field last week, seeking and taking at-bats wherever he could find them.
“I went out there looking for strikes,” Kolten Wong said, “and trying to hit strikes.”
Before the Cardinals left for a night game in West Palm Beach, Fla., Wong asked Matheny if he could go to the minor-league games as a free-range hitter. He would dart from game to game and take at-bats wherever available. He would lead off an inning, he would get on base, and he would leave first base to a pinch-runner and go find somewhere else to take an at-bat. Wong, and other hitters, have done this car wash through the minor-league games before, but this week it came with added urgency.
The regular season is fast approaching, and Wong’s swing is late.
“This was a one-time thing to get locked-in,” Wong said. “I got somewhere around 10 or 11 at-bats. Basically, just going back there and getting my timing down. My timing hasn’t been there all spring. For me, as a player, I know I’m a rhythm player. In order to get me going I have to get that consecutive amount of ABs to make it happen.”
Wong finished 0 for 3 Sunday in a spring training game against the Marlins, dropping his average in Grapefruit League to .170. In 47 at-bats, he has eight hits and has struck out 10 times with a .250 on-base percentage.
“I’m over here trying to work on things, trying to get myself better,” Wong said Sunday. “Not trying to go out here and have an amazing spring training. I’m trying to go out there and have an amazing season.”
Wong has been tinkering with his swing, too, but he’s caught “in between,” and he wasn’t able to break loose with a two-on, one-off schedule in the lineup.
That’s what former manager Tony La Russa and hitting coach Mark McGwire would call a hitter that is too late on the fastball and too early on the off-speed pitch and too out of synch to produce. Their point was that a hitter can have everything kosher about their swing, their stance, their bat path, their hands, their pitch recognition — and still get caught in that gray zone with their timing. The watch’s gears are in good shape, they just run fast.
“Whenever you’re not feeling good in the box (and) you’re making constant adjustments you can overcompensate,” Matheny said. “He’s still looking for it.”
Platoon in place?
Wong’s situation is complicated. Jedd Gyorko, who hit a team-high 30 home runs last season, plays a steady second base and offers a right-handed hitting complement to Wong’s southpaw swing. Greg Garcia, another utility infielder, has fired out of the Grapefruit League gates, averaging .341 with a .375 on-base percentage and .545 slugging percentage in 44 at-bats.
Wong did not start Saturday’s game against the Marlins because it featured a lefthanded starter, Matheny said before that game. When asked then if platooning Wong against lefties might be an approach to start the season, the manager said it’s something that has to be considered. The same day, general manager John Mozeliak, who this offseason voiced a belief that more regular playing time for Wong would help improve the club’s overall defense, mentioned that defense cannot completely overshadow unproductive at-bats.
“Kolten, I do think, gives you the most sure hands defensively and range (at second base),” Mozeliak said Saturday. “But you also have to balance that with how things are going offensively. There are a few other players in this camp who have swung the bat very well, notably Gyorko and Greg Garcia.”
Matheny and Mozeliak have both stated their hope that Wong hits the ground running once games count. Matheny has praised Wong’s consistent defense this spring and predicted that his offense will come. The question of what happens if it doesn’t is a difficult one.
“If he takes hold of that job, then it’s his,” Mozeliak said. “I do feel like what you’ve seen from other players in this camp gives you reason for confidence that there are other alternatives.”
Last March, Wong and the Cardinals agreed to a five-year deal worth a guaranteed $25.5 million, and he initially expressed confusion and frustration Sunday about the news that the Cardinals are considering a platoon to start the regular season, saying he “100 percent” would rather depart if he is not going to be a regular starter in St. Louis.
Wong then asked the Post-Dispatch to clarify his comments.
“That platoon word is something I don’t get along with real well,” Wong said. “When that came off, obviously I kind of blew off the top a little bit. Just because I’ve put in the work this offseason offensively, defensively, offensively, trying to figure out my swing. At spring training, we all understand we are trying to figure out something. You are trying to make sure that you are getting yourself ready for the season.
“I love playing for the Cardinals. If that wasn’t the reason, then I never would have signed that extension. I wanted to be here for the long term. I still want to. Right now, I’m going through a rough stretch, trying to figure out my stuff. Eventually it will turn around.”
