Kolten Wong a longshot to crack St. Louis Cardinals' lineup to start 2013

The St. Louis Cardinals' starting second baseman is Daniel Descalso, and one of their top hitting prospects is second baseman Kolten Wong. This seems like a self-explanatory move in 2013, but Wong's slow second half—he hit .224 in July and .276/.318/.413 in August—and our habitual skepticism with left-handed hitters' numbers in AA Springfield's ballpark mean the 22-year-old seems like a better fit for a half-season in AAA Memphis than a Spring Training tour as Descalso's immediate replacement.

Descalso, in fact, has a role to play in my hesitation; before Hammons Field terrified us, he hit .323/.396/.531 there in half a season and looked, for a minute, like the Cardinals' second baseman of the future. Then we saw him hit in the major leagues, somewhere between replacement level and near-adequate, and from then on Hammons Field terrified us. Sample size caveats apply, but Wong hit .267/.314/.355 away from home, and .310/.383/.460 in the friendly confines.

He remains the Cardinals' best bet for the future, and he's presently tearing up the Arizona Fall League, but he just finished his first full pro season at a baseball age of 21—he could use a little more time, even if the Cardinals could use him right this instant.