The Brewers' Kolten Wong reached a career milestone Sunday against the Marlins, then had a career day
Curt Hogg
MIAMI – On the morning of his 1,000th major-league game, Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Kolten Wong was reflective on his origins. Once he took the field, he was all business.
A kid from Kea’au, Hawaii, a town of about 2,000 people on an island of roughly 150,000, Wong didn’t have much of a blueprint for how to become a big-league baseball player growing up. He followed closely as Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino became an all-star, gold glover and World Series champion, but before Victorino, only one Hawaiian-born player had ever appeared in 600 games.
“It’s just a blessing,” Wong said before Sunday’s game against the Miami Marlins. “From where I’m from, there’s never been another guy to do it like what I’ve done, so I didn’t have a blueprint or anybody to really look up to accept someone like a Victorino.”
Wong became the fourth player born in Hawaii to reach 1,000 MLB games when he led off Sunday’s contest, joining Kurt Suzuki (1,596 games), Mike Lum (1,517) and Victorino (1,299).
Wong credited his upbringing – which also played a big role in his younger brother, Kean, reaching the majors in 2019 – for his ability to endure the daily grind of a baseball player ever since he debuted in 2013.
“I think just humble beginnings,” Wong said. “Understanding that this is something that’s not taken for granted by me. Ever since I got to the big leagues, it’s always been an honor for me to be here. I never took a day for granted and just tried to continue to play hard and do what I could do to stay up here. It’s not easy being in the big leagues for this long so I just tried to keep my head down and understand I’m very fortunate to be in this situation.”
Wong went 2-for-2 with a home run and reached base five times for just the second time in his career as the Brewers won, 7-3. He walked three times, doing so without an intentional walk sprinkled in for the first time in his career, stole two bases and scored two runs.
"He had a great game," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "It's not a coincidence that your leadoff guy gets on base. He had a wonderful game and really set the tone today."
Brewers come through in a pinch
Pinch-hitting isn’t dead yet.
The advent of the designated hitter in the National League largely eradicated the need for a team to utilize most – or all – of its bench to pinch-hit for pitchers, but no team in the league is having more success with its reserves than the Brewers.
Entering play Sunday, Milwaukee pinch-hitters led the NL teams in hits (eight), homers (two) and OPS (1.076).
Much of that groundwork has been achieved by the likes of Mike Brosseau, Jace Peterson and Tyrone Taylor, who have come off the bench to give the Brewers a platoon advantage against opponents’ bullpens.
The job of pinch-hitter, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said, is more difficult with the DH because at-bats off the bench aren’t nearly as consistent as they were when pitchers batted.
“I think the other way it was actually easier because in the National League format, you can kind of count on it happening every day,” Counsell said. “In this format it’s not an everyday occurrence, so it’s actually a little harder. I think it’s harder to get ready and that’s a little bit more challenging. I actually think the American League version of it is harder, it’s less frequent. And for that reason it’s harder to be successful.”
The inconsistency of the at-bats may be tougher, but Brosseau thinks preparing to come off the bench has been simplified in this format. Before each game when he’s not in the starting lineup, Brosseau, a right-handed hitter, knows what spots and against which specific pitchers he may be called upon to hit.
“If you’re coming off the bench you can kind of play two, three innings in advance and see if this happens, I’m probably going in in this situation,” Brosseau said. “You have that time to prepare a little bit and then once you figure that out, it’s what’s his best pitch? What’s his fastball do? That’s the matchup that they want and it’s probably gonna be a big time in the game if they’re making a move, it’s probably an important time. So you’re really focusing on that individual.
“It allows you to dive a little bit deeper and really hone in on what they have and how they’re gonna attack you.”