The Angels announced Tuesday that they’ve claimed infielder Kean Wong off waivers from the Rays. Wong, the younger brother of Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong, was designated for assignment over the weekend. The Angels transferred right-hander Griffin Canning from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot for Wong on the roster.
Wong, 24, was the Rays’ fourth-round pick back in the 2013 draft and made his MLB debut earlier this month, going 3-for-14 in a six-game cup of coffee. He spent the rest of the season with Triple-A Durham, where he logged his second consecutive above-average season at the plate. After hitting .282/.345/.406 with nine homers, 23 doubles, three triples and seven steals in 2018, Wong turned in a .307/.375/.464 slash with 10 homers, 29 doubles, six triples and six steals in 2019. Offense was elevated throughout the league in Triple-A this season, but Wong’s output checked in at 16 percent better than league average, as measured by wRC+.
While he’s primarily been a second baseman in his minor league career, Wong has begun to see time at third base and in the outfield — mostly the corners but also 24 innings in center — over the past couple of seasons. Defensive versatility is a hallmark of the Rays organization, and familiarizing himself with multiple spots on the diamond obviously increased Wong’s chances of cracking a deep Rays roster. Now, that versatility will help in affording him more opportunities with a new organization.
Wong ranked 40th in an absolutely stacked Rays farm system heading into the season, per Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs. Their scouting report pegs Wong as more of a utility option than an everyday player, but he’ll aim to prove himself capable of handling a prominent role with the club over the next few days and possibly next spring, if he survives the offseason on the Angels’ 40-man roster. The Angels control Tommy La Stella for another season and also have Zack Cozart under contract through the 2020 campaign. But La Stella might not make it back to the field in 2019 after suffering a fractured tibia in early July, and Cozart’s Angels tenure has been absolutely decimated by injuries of his own
Younger options like David Fletcher and Matt Thaiss have seen action at second and third in lieu of those injured veterans, but Wong would add another versatile candidate to the mix for playing time. As somewhat of a bonus, he brings a left-handed bat to an Angels roster where the majority of the team’s regulars hit from the right side. Wong’s contract was selected to the MLB roster for the first time earlier this month, meaning he’ll have all three of his minor league option years remaining beyond the 2019 season.
they claim Chandler Shephard and Tayler Scott, but dont claim guys like Wong, Mejia, and Sadler…
some of the players angels claimed have worked out pretty well.
im talking about the O’s claims
Would’ve been hard to claim Sadler considering he never made it to waivers. Mejia is out of options and not pitching well. And Kean Wong has repeated AAA not twice, but 3 times. You might want to relax.
I don’t get why they passed
Probably were not high on Wong. This is the first season in the minors he posted an OPS north of .800. He did that in his 3rd year playing AAA baseball. It’s easy to joke about how bad our 40 man is but we need to take 5-6 guys off this offseason for prospects already. Only Trumbo is a free agent.
Wong was by no means a very good prospect. I thought we may take a look due to the lack of upper minors depth but I’m not losing any sleep over it. He’s also really not SS capable either. The Rays have been deploying him like Stevie Wilkerson in the outfield as well as his natural 2B. I guess they didn’t think he was any better than Stevie and they’d stick with their guy.
Great claim for LA
Tough loss but what are you going to do with a thick roster abd the rule 5 draft coming? No room.
Fletcher needs to play 2B. He’s the best defensive 2b the Angels have had since Grich.
Out of players 65 players with 200 IP at second, he’s 4th in UZR150. He’s 4th at 3B in Fangraphs defense at 3rd.
Quick hands, quick feet, quick release and he’s a ball player. The kid fooled me. .
“He’s the best defensive 2b the Angels have had since Grich.”
Ooookay hyperbole is fun but maybe wait ’til puts a bit more time in at 2b before we anoint him as New-Grich;
200 Innings is just over 22 games at 2nd: way too small a sample size for UZR to be of much use. UZR/150 tells you even less in this case.
He and his brother were once dangled as a trade for a now retired Mets third baseman. “Sorry,” said the Mets representative, “but two Wongs don’t make a Wright.”
“I’m going to be here all week…”
This is so corny but I love it
That’s just wong
You’re as bad as I am!!!
No, but they make up a nice, big hot dog.
Sum Ding Wong with that humor…
I laughed. Well done.
I think that was actually for Jamey Wright.
*standing ovation*
that was dumb, but it made me laugh a little
Again, Wong’s almost the perfect “26th man” for 2020. Decent LH bat, willing to play anywhere (tho he really isn’t any good anywhere), even has some speed. Good pickup.
Which only goes to show that two Wongs don’t make a Wright.
Nothing Wong with that pick up. He needs to have total conswentwation as mentor Woo his mentor would say
good move for them
I’m Kean on this move, this can’t go Wong.
As Jeff noted in his chat, one third of the league let Wong pass through waivers, and that was after last winter when he went unclaimed in Rule 5…..
In general, teams are looking for more complete packages than Wong offers, tho it’s worth a shot, if you have room, to see if there’s a Max Muncy (who also can’t catch anything unless it’s rolled to him) in there. But Wong doesn’t have Max’s power, or a Joey Wendle glove. Still, the versatility and willingness are appealing.
Bob, just because he came from the Rays MIF system does not mean he doesn’t have a glove. He’s not even close to a Max Muncy in the field. He’s a 2B. A real 2B. He probably won’t hit enough at the major league level but his defense is not terrible.
Rays are going to need to protect a bunch of players this fall. Rule 5 guys…
Dalton Kelly 1B .283/ .369/ .422
Kevin Padlo 3B .250/ .383/ .505
Jake Cronenworth SS .334/ .429/ .520
Brett Sullivan C .280/ 333/ .459
Blake Bivens RSP 3.95 era
Brenton Moss RRP .90 era
I think the only pending free agent is Garcia. Plus they have 3 on IL… that means 48 for 40 spots.. Someone is going to be lost.
You can be sure Mike Zunino is getting non tendered.D’arnaud is also a FA but they will need to sign a catcher to replace one of the two. They also have an exclusive pinch runner on their roster right now so you can pencil him in as gone while you’re at it.
Almost none of those guys you mentioned wil need to be protected, and the ones that they absolutely must protect aren’t even mentioned… no brainer adds are Hernandez and Brujan, I think Padlo and Cronenworth are added, and guys like Fox and Gomez could be potential adds.