The D-backs have released veteran infielder Kolten Wong, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. Wong had been playing with their Triple-A affiliate in Reno after signing a minor league contract. He’s now a free agent.
A two-time Gold Glove winner at second base, the now-33-year-old Wong entered the 2024 campaign in hopes of rebounding from a disastrous 2023 season that saw him bat just .183/.256/.263 in 250 plate appearances between the Mariners and Dodgers. Wong signed a minor league deal with Baltimore and spent spring training with the Orioles but opted out of that pact when he didn’t make the team. He subsequently signed with the D-backs, putting pen to paper on a second minor league deal back on April 10.
Through 31 games, Wong has turned in a .271/.339/.383 batting line that looks respectable enough relative to MLB batting lines but is about 18% worse than average (by measure of wRC+) in the supercharged offensive environment of Triple-A’s Pacific Coast League. He’s homered twice, swiped a pair of bags and collected six doubles. Wong has also shown modest improvements in his strikeout and walk rates, which sat at 21.2% and 7.2% in the big leagues last year but are at 18.2% and 8.3% in Reno.
Miserable as Wong’s 2023 season was, the veteran infielder is still just one season removed from a .251/.339/.430 performance with the 2022 Brewers — a season that saw him swipe 17 bases and club a career-best 15 home runs with a strong 9.3% walk rate and considerably lower-than-average 17.7% strikeout rate. From 2017-22, Wong was an above-average regular at second base between St. Louis and Milwaukee, hitting a combined .269/.349/.414 with 54 homers, 72 steals, a roughly average walk rate, strong bat-to-ball skills and plus defense.
The D-backs haven’t needed any help at second base with Ketel Marte logging a .275/.322/.493 slash in his first 233 trips to the plate this season, and there are other second base options on the 40-man roster ahead of Wong on the depth chart as well. But there are plenty of teams around the game — Red Sox, White Sox and Angels, to name a few — that have struggled to get much of anything out of their second basemen this season. Wong could make sense as a depth option with any of those clubs or even an immediate big league replacement in some spots, if a team wants to send a struggling young player back to Triple-A for some more seasoning.
Wong would be a nice fit for the Red Sox.
lol, are you trying to make them worse??
He should fit in nicely with the White Sox, a collection of minor leaguers, washed-up vets, and a few rookies or second year players. Would his OBP or OPS be worse than Mendick, Remillard, Vaughn, Benintendi, Maldonado, Lopez, Shewmake, Fletcher, Ramos, etc., etc., etc.?
Coming soon to Queens, NY where David Stearns is rebuilding the Brewers.
Well, the Mets currently don’t have a backup at 2B and SS.
They decide it was the Wong move to sign him.
Mid at best
Future angel
Why not just let him keep playing for the Aces?
AZ must think they’re doing him a favor…..
Might have had an option that forced the team to promote or release him like he had with Orioles in spring training..He might have felt there was better chance to get to majors again with someone else with all the injuries and young guys having bad years around baseball this year
Nothing wong with cutting him loose. At least he’ll have a chance to catch on somewhere else and continue sucking.
Sorry if my tea leaves are blurred but a reason for cutting him would be nice.
This is going to hurt a core group of Brewers fans who love this man
Padres are down with signing guys like this. Now the Bumgarts is out Wong would be a solid fit.
I’m not a John Mozeliak guy, by any means, but he should get some credit for declining Wong’s $12.5 million option and letting him go to Milwaukee.
Agreed. Finally a decision Mo made that ended up being the correct one.
“Being the correct one”…Agreed. There’s never been a time when Kolten Wong was worth $12.5 large. Like a lot of Asian players, he’s very unorthodox and even his defense is hard to quantify in my book.
Asian players? Wong is from Hawaii and never played in Asia. He’s not an Asian player unless you are talking about ancestry. If you are, I guess that makes Andrew Benetendi an “Italian player.”
“Never played in Asia..unless you are talking about ancestry”…What makes you a part of any ethnic group?…It’s your ancestry, genius. What else would I be talking about by calling him asian?
The word you’re looking for is polynesian.
Andrew Benintendi is a “Dogshit player.”
He had his 2 best hitting seasons by wRC+ in Milwaukee, he just started to suck once moved to Seattle.
“2 best hitting”..He was so good in Milwaukee, that the always light-hitting Brewers let him move on, just like the Cardinals, Mariners, Dodgers and every other team he’s been on.
Kolten Wong is one of many AAAA players in MLB masquerading as Major League quality players.
AAAA player? I don’t think so, not with a career WAR of 22.
I’m not sure what’s happened to him. With the Cardinals, he struck me as someone who wasn’t mentally tough – if a manager wasn’t showing confidence in him, his performance plummeted. He’s worth a shot, if he can find the right environment.
Is the news of Kolton’s release accurate?
OR
Is it…………………………..
WONG !!
Thanks for the .160 average for the mariners! Your negative WAR helped us get into the playoffs… oh… wait… we missed it by 1 game and you gave us -1.6 wins
“Miserable as Wong’s 2023 season was” isn’t proper English, Steve Adams. You cannot just leave out “as” to start the sentence. Grammar isn’t optional.