Scouting Reports - Kolten Wong (2011 Draft Class)

Wong in 140 characters or less:

Compact, strong; big swings/hard contact; barrels regularly, commands zone; solid defender will improve consistency; average range, runner.

Scouted:

Hawaii at Loyola Marymount (Los Angeles, Calif.), March 5, 2011 (in attendance)
Hawaii vs. Texas (Honolulu, Hawaii), February 25-27, 2011 (film)
Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game (Boston, Mass.), July 28, 2010 (film)
NCAA Tempe Regional (Tempe, Ariz.), June 4-6, 2010 (film)
USA vs. Guatemala (Cary/Durham, N.C.), July 3-4, 2009 (in attendance)

Physical Description:

Undersized, compact frame with medium waist/shoulders. Strong, well put together. Athletic and shows middle-infield agility.

Defense:

Wong is a solid defender who shows average range and a solid average to tick above-average throwing arm. He is comfortable and confident on the field, handles himself well around the bag and has enough leather to make the occasional flashy play. Wong charges well and shows an ability to maintain body control while ranging to each side -- his range topping out as unspectacular but more than adequate. He has the frame, agility and enough arm to potentially shift behind home (he has spent time there in the past).

Bat:

Wong has a high effort swing but handles the barrel so well he is able to square the ball up consistently. Though a bit undersized, Wong is strong throughout and utilizes good strength in his wrists and hands in particular to produce hard contact with wood. Compact to contact, Wong accelerates the bat head well and can drive the ball from foul line to foul line. He does not project to much power, but could bump up against average pop at his ceiling, and it would not be a huge shock to see him turn in some mid-teen homerun totals. A .125-.150 ISO range seems like a fair high-side projection.

Discussion:

Wong will show-up all over the place on the 30 MLB draft boards this June. His range and arm strength limit him to second base, and some consider him to be a hit tool and nothing more. This undersells the strides he has made in the infield (starting with extra work put in during the 2009 summer with the USA Collegiate National Team) as well as the quality of his base-running, which helps his average speed play-up a fair amount. Additionally, he shows a good feel for the game and an impressive demeanor on the field, both in-game and in-practice. Ideally, Wong projects to a solid #2 hitter on a first division team with a high contact rate, ability to drive the gaps and enough speed and smarts to grab an extra base when available. A drafting organization could shift him to catcher during fall instructs to take a quick look at a possible position shift -- if he is too far off, however, it is unlikely he will have his offensive progression slowed at the expense of trying to force him behind home.

Projected position: Fringe-above-average second baseman on 1st division team

Suggested draft slot: Late- to Supplemental-1st Round

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