JUPITER, Fla. — With manager Mike Matheny and other Cardinals officials watching, the second baseman they want to see seize the job bopped from field to field last week, seeking and taking at-bats wherever he could find them.
“I went out there looking for strikes,” Kolten Wong said, “and trying to hit strikes.”
Before the Cardinals left for a night game in West Palm Beach, Fla., Wong asked Matheny if he could go to the minor-league games as a free-range hitter. He would dart from game to game and take at-bats wherever available. He would lead off an inning, he would get on base, and he would leave first base to a pinch-runner and go find somewhere else to take an at-bat.