Wong embraces importance of leadoff role

MILWAUKEE -- After a ninth-inning scare on Opening Day, Kolten Wong was back to setting the table for the Brewers on Saturday.

That’s good news for the club, which likes Wong as the primary leadoff option this season. He batted all over the order during parts of eight seasons with the Cardinals, but was St. Louis’ primary leadoff man last year, when Wong posted a .350 on-base percentage. His OBP has been .350 or better in three of the last four seasons.

“I’m very excited about it,” Wong said. “Last year was kind of a test for me. I’d never really done it before, even in the Minor Leagues, I was always batting second or towards the end of the lineup. Now that I kind of have an understanding, it’s fun making it my own, realizing how important it is to get on because the guys we have behind us, there’s a stack of them that can really drive you in. For me, I’m just trying to find a way to get on base as much as I can and just score runs for the team as much as I can.”

Sometimes hitters will tell you they take the same approach to the plate no matter what batting-order position they are in. Not Wong, who made the case that batting leadoff is different.

“You’re the table-setter at the top,” he said. “You’re trying to figure out a way to get your team going, put your guys in good situations to drive you in and get in those advantage counts. I’m always trying to pay attention to that, see how the pitcher’s starting off the game. If he’s wild, I’m going to work him. If he’s trying to attack us, I want to be on the attack as well. It’s really getting a vibe on how he’s throwing and try to set that vibe for the guy behind you.”

For a few tense moments of Thursday’s come-from-behind, 6-5 win over Minnesota, it appeared the Brewers’ new second baseman was in significant pain after being hit on the right hand by an Alex Colomé cutter with one out in the ninth and the Brewers trailing by three runs.

Wong got attention from Brewers manager Craig Counsell and a member of the team’s athletic-training staff, but remained in the game and scored a run as part of the Brewers’ tying rally before they won the game in the 10th inning.

“It got me a little bit,” Wong said. “It was just one of those where it clips you enough where you feel it and just the reaction kind of took over at that point. The pinkie’s good, a little stiff, but it’s my bottom hand so it won’t affect me too much.”

Counsell: ‘It's OK to change some rules’

Sorry, baseball traditionalists. Counsell is a fan of the free runner on second base in extra innings.

And no, it is not the result of Counsell’s team picking up an Opening Day win by virtue of that free runner. He has been on record as sincerely in favor of the rule, which was instituted during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to help guard against the wholesale roster moves -- and, often, travel -- that typically follow a particularly long ballgame.

“I do like it because it shortens games,” Counsell said. “It also saves players’ jobs and needless roster maneuvering, oftentimes with players who perform well in the game, which I think is really unfair. We were at four hours going into the 10th inning [on Opening Day]. That was enough. That’s as simply as I can state it.”

It might come as a surprise to hear a longtime baseball man so open to changing the fundamental rules of baseball, but Counsell said that as time has passed he has become more open-minded. He is still strongly against the one-game Wild Card, however.

“I think we're getting our head around that it's OK for us to change some rules,” Counsell said. “The game will still go on -- and we can improve it, actually. The game's not going to fall apart by making some changes to it. I think our nature in this game is we're so cautious with this stuff, it's hard to believe we're going to make a mistake, because we're so cautious with how we approach change.

“We're going to lose games [because of the runner on second] and feel like we lost because we didn't give up a hit and they scored a run. I’m sure of that at some point. But this is a good rule, and it's a rule that belongs in the game. It's an exciting rule. It's an exciting rule for fans. It immediately creates excitement. We need that. I don't think there's any question about it. Every inning becomes exciting when you start it with a man on second.”

He added, “I think we should be open to a lot more coming. Because there is more coming, and it's necessary.”

Last call

• The kind of comeback the Brewers pulled off Thursday doesn’t happen very often. According to the team, it was only the 25th time in franchise history, and the first time on Opening Day, that the Brewers won a game after trailing by three or more runs in the ninth inning or later. Three of those comebacks have come against the Twins.