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2011 MLB Draft: St. Louis Cardinals Select Kolten Wong In First Round

SECAUCUS, NJ - JUNE 07:  MLB commissioner Bud Selig accidentally appears in front of the wrong faux-scoreboard prior to the 2011 MLB Draft.
SECAUCUS, NJ - JUNE 07: MLB commissioner Bud Selig accidentally appears in front of the wrong faux-scoreboard prior to the 2011 MLB Draft.

With the 22nd pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, the St. Louis Cardinals picked—a guy who can play second base right on the label, Kolten Wong of Hawaii. Immediate reaction: Why choose a second baseman when you can just choose someone at any other position and then move them there in the Major Leagues? Wong isn't an extremely exciting pick, but he's not Pete Kozma, either—he's a college bat without a ton of upside, which is totally normal. Kozma was, inexplicably, a high school bat without a ton of upside, which is why he's proceeded to hit like a guy who should have gone to college. 

I'd have preferred a more exciting pick, but this doesn't strike me as an immediate mistake, and in the MLB Draft that's all I can really ask for; there's value in a .300-hitting second baseman, especially when that guy has a little power and you don't have to import him from the outfield. If he sticks at second—and I'm a little worried about the scouting reports azru's collected on Future Redbirds, which discuss his possible versatility and only-adequate defense at the position—he could be a better version of Skip Schumaker, and Skip Schumaker once put together a solid season at second base with a -10 glove and no power.