It was just three years ago that Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong finished the season as an outfielder, once notably slipping in a late September game in Wrigley Field and performed a face-plant. Earlier that season, he had been banished to Memphis for a week.
It had been no secret that the Hawaii native had been drafted in the first round in 2011 as an offensive second baseman. In midst of a .240 season in 2016, there also seemingly was no speculation that he would be become a potentially elite defensive player. So Wong’s future with the Cardinals appeared murky even though he had signed a five-year contract extension that spring.