Kolten Wong, selected 22nd by the Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals selected University of Hawaii second baseman Kolten Wong with their first overall selection in the 2011 First Year player draft. Wong has also started games at second, catcher and centerfield during his time at Hawaii.

Wong, 20, is a junior out of Hawaii who posted a career .358 batting average (245-684) with 47 doubles, 25 home

runs and 145 RBI, while posting a career slugging pct. of .563 and on-base pct. of .449. A left-handed hitter, Wong profiles as an above average hitter and a smart runner on the base-paths who stole 53 bases in 71 attempts during his college career. He is a three-time First-Team All-WAC, selected to the WAC All-Tournament team, he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2010 WAC Postseason Tournament, MVP of the Cape Cod summer league and a two time Louisville Slugger Postseason All-America Team selection.

“We are very excited to select Kolten as our first pick. We were looking to add infield depth to our organization

and Kolten is a great part to that,” said Cardinals Vice President of Scouting & Player Development, Jeff Luhnow. “His swing is one of his strong assets, and defensively we think he will prove to be a solid second baseman for us. We look for him to be a fast mover through our system.”

The Hilo, Hawaii native started 57 games this season for the Rainbows, 53 at second where he registered a .954

fielding pct. (89 po, 139 assists, 11 errors). He led his team in almost every offensive category during the 2011 season, including average (.378), slugging (.560), on-base percentage (.492), hits (79), RBI (53) and home runs (7). He stole 23 bases during the season and led the club with 27 multi-hit games and 13 multi-RBI games. During the Western Athletic Conference tournament this season, he hit .412 (7-17) with one home run and five RBI and was named the WAC tournament MVP in 2010, as he helped Hawaii to their first title since 1992.

At 5’9”, 180 pounds, Wong was drafted in the 16th round of the 2008 First-Year Player draft by the Minnesota

Twins, but did not sign. He played on the USA Baseball National team in the summer of 2008.