Making a long-term commitment to Kolten Wong as their second baseman, the St. Louis Cardinals agreed Wednesday to a $25.5 million, five-year contract with the 25-year-old.
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Wong, who isn’t eligible for arbitration until November, will turn 26 at the end of this season.
The Cardinals and Wong finalized a deal worth a guaranteed $25.5 million, with a 2021 club option for $12.5 million.
“For them going and drafting me and giving me the chance to come up and, after what happened [in 2013], to still continue to believe in me, I wanted to show them I wanted to be there”, Wong said in a press conference today.
Wong led the Cardinals with 25 two-out RBI last season and hit 5 of his 11 home runs with two outs. “If there was any chance that I could do it, I told them, ‘Let’s try to get that done'”. “Kolten has already been a key part of several high-profile moments during his young career and we look forward to his continued growth and success as a member of the organization”.
Wong had a small sample size in 2013 and played in 113 games in 2014.
For the upcoming season, the SportsLine projection system tabs Wong for a line of.253/.308/400 with 16 home runs and 18 steals.
Korean Oh had a ideal third inning, striking out one after FAU product Austin Gomber, the Cardinals’ minor league pitcher of the year last season, fanned three in two flawless innings as the starter. He hit 12 home runs and stole 20 bases in just 113 games.
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Manager Mike Matheny said he appreciated Wong’s confidence, while online chatrooms lit up with questions about how a player with Wong’s noted inconsistency could possibly set the table for a team looking to score more runs. Wong ranked third among NL second basemen in homers last season and fourth in RBIs (61), while leading all second basemen with 312 putouts. He also played Gold Glove-level defense at second base, and had he not been injured, may have been in the running for the award. I want to have fun.
