Kolten Wong has strong words over potential loss of at-bats

St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong was confronted with the possibility of losing some of his at-bats due to ongoing struggles at the plate, and he was not very receptive to the idea.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny floated the idea of a platoon at second base involving Wong and the likes of Jedd Gyorko and Greg Garcia, with Wong hitting just .182 during spring training. That poor spring comes on the heels of a weak 2016, in which he hit just .240 with no power.

Despite all this, Wong, who signed a five-year contract extension a year ago, is not happy with the prospect of playing in a platoon.

“I don’t think you give somebody a contract for no reason,” Wong said, via Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “When you are given a contract, you are expected to get a chance to work through some things and figure yourself out. Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, all these guys never figured their stuff out until later on down the road. It’s the big leagues. It’s tough, man. For me, the biggest thing is I just need people to have my back. When that comes, it will be good. But, I think right now, it’s just staying with my play, understanding I’m working toward getting myself more consistent, understanding what kind of player I can be. If that’s going to be with another team, so be it.”

Wong went as far as to say that he’d rather be traded than play as part of a platoon.

“One hundred percent,” Wong said. “One hundred percent. I don’t want to be here wasting my time. I know what kind of player I am. If I don’t have the belief here, then I’ll go somewhere else.”

Prompted by the Post-Dispatch, Wong later clarified his comments, saying the platoon comments caught him off guard and prompted a rather visceral reaction that may have come across the wrong way.

“I’m not trying to sell my self to any other team,” Wong said. “My play speaks for itself and what kind of player I can be. I want to be that player for the Cardinals. If the worst-case scenario comes down, I understand there are a lot of good guys on this team right now. If it’s my time to get moved, it’s my time to get moved. But at the end of the day, I want to be a Cardinal. And that’s the most important thing.”

Wong looked like he was on the precipice of being a breakout star back in 2014, but his career, particularly at the plate, has failed to take off. Given his numbers, it’s hard to say he deserves better — and Cardinals brass might be unimpressed with his very public reaction to the possibility of losing some plate appearances.