St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong had hoped to avoid the disabled list after hurting a hamstring, but he couldn’t.
The team placed him on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday, retroactive to Sunday, with a left hamstring strain. Infielder Patrick Wisdom was recalled from Triple-A from Memphis to replace him.
Manager Mike Shildt said the injury wasn’t serious and if there was an eight-day disabled list, that would be about right.
“Kolten looks to be more favorable as far as hamstrings go,” Shildt said. “We’re optimistic that the eighth day, ninth day, he’s going to be back in baseball activity, getting ready for being cleared after the 10th day, but we’ll take it slow. Hamstrings can be a little tricky so we’ll evaluate day to day, but more favorable … it could have been worse.”
Shildt said he didn’t think Wong would need a rehab assignment.
Wong suffered the injury on Saturday night in Denver while running out a ground ball in the second inning and left the game. He left the field on his own but came out of the game and hoped that the injury would be minor enough that while he may miss a few days, he wouldn’t miss enough to warrant going on the DL.
On Sunday, he was optimistic. “So much different,” he said. “A lot better. Enough to be excited about.”
Wong returned home with the team and had a battery of tests on Monday, which, despite the player’s positivity, were enough to cause the Cardinals to put him on the DL.
Wisdom was hitting .288 with 15 home runs and 61 RBIs for Memphis. He played nine games with the Cardinals this season, hitting .333 (4 for 12) with a home run and three RBIs.
Wong was batting .244 with eight home runs. Since the All-Star break, he’s hitting .342, the 10th-highest mark in the NL. His August will end with him hitting .362, which right now is the fifth-best in the league.
And, he has been fielding up a storm.
Wong in eligible to come off the DL on Sept. 5. He missed two weeks between July and August with a knee injury.
