Kolten Wong to Brewers

[sveumrules]

I like that Wong is proving me right and his OPS at least for this season has improved. I still believe it is because he is now playing in a more hitter friendly home ballpark.

 

Wong has posted an .860 OPS on the road vs a .790 OPS at home this year.

 

AmFam hasn't really been doing the Brewers many favors with a .696 OPS at home vs a .747 OPS on the road so far this year.

[markedman5]

What's interesting is as a hitter he is below average in lots of areas.....doesn't hit the ball hard often.......isn't a really fast runner....but doesn't strike out much...and is good at not making outs.

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/kolten-wong-543939?stats=statcast-r-histograms-mlb

[TURBO]

I am VERY happy that Wong has performed far above my expectations.

 

I am always haunted by the Ex-Cardinals signings from the past, so that played into my "meh" attitude when we signed him.

 

Bottom line is this, he has been great and my first reactions were wrong.

[PeaveyFury]

isn't a really fast runner....

 

I think this is an interesting point in noting the fact that speed isn't the sole thing that makes a baserunner. Wong is a fantastic baserunner, despite the lack of true high-level speed.

[nate82]

I like that Wong is proving me right and his OPS at least for this season has improved. I still believe it is because he is now playing in a more hitter friendly home ballpark.

 

Wong has posted an .860 OPS on the road vs a .790 OPS at home this year.

 

AmFam hasn't really been doing the Brewers many favors with a .696 OPS at home vs a .747 OPS on the road so far this year.

 

Yes but that is better than his career norms when he was in St. Louis which is what I meant by AmFam helping his overall OPS which is about 80 points higher this season. Though his away splits this season are about 120 points higher than his career norms. I still believe going forward and this year that being in a more hitter friendly home ballpark is going to help him more. I think he will regress a bit on the road going forward but I think his home OPS is right in line with what he should be doing. Before this year he had an .855 OPS at AmFam so I think you can see an increase in his OPS at AmFam.

[sveumrules]

isn't a really fast runner....

 

I think this is an interesting point in noting the fact that speed isn't the sole thing that makes a baserunner. Wong is a fantastic baserunner, despite the lack of true high-level speed.

 

Yeah, Kolten's sprint speed from 2015-19 was 27.5 to 27.7 feet per second which had him around the 208th to 238th fastest player depending on the year. Yet his baserunning value came in at +16.1 runs, 27th best over that span.

 

From 2020-21 it has dropped down to between 26.7 & 26.8 feet per second which has him around the 247th to 315th in terms of sprint speed, but his baserunning value of +2.8 runs ranks 40th over that span.