The Top 10 Brewers Players Right Now: No. 7 Kolten Wong

As we close in on the 2022 regular season, we must kick back up the countdown of the top 10 Milwaukee Brewers players on the roster.

We’ve gone through the first three players on the list, with newcomer Hunter Renfroe at no. 10, third baseman Luis Urias at no. 9, and setup man Devin Williams at no. 8.

Now we turn our attention to the no. 7 player on this list.

As we head into the 2022 season, which players make up the “top” of this roster? Here at Reviewing the Brew over the next few weeks we will rank the top 10 Brewers players right now one by one. Next up: Kolten Wong.

Top 10 Brewers right now: No. 7 Kolten Wong

Brewers second baseman Kolten Wong is next on this list. A longtime foe as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, Wong signed a two year, $18MM contract with the Brewers in February 2021.

David Stearns brought Wong in to shore up the infield defense up the middle, which pushed the defensively challenged Keston Hiura off the position and over to first base.

After spending the 2020 season struggling to find a leadoff hitter to set the table for the heart of the order, Kolten Wong came in and immediately changed that. He spent the bulk of the 2021 season atop the lineup and he hit a steady .272/.335/.447 with a career-high 14 homers and a career-high 32 doubles.

He thrived at American Family Field and saw his power tick up in a hitter-friendly ballpark. Wong also hit seven leadoff home runs to get games started, giving the Crew’s excellent pitching staff an early lead to work with.

In addition to his offensive prowess, Wong brought superb defense at second base, although he fell just short of his third straight Gold Glove award though after dealing with a few IL stints throughout the season that limited him to just 116 games. Still, his 6 DRS was a massive upgrade for the Crew at the keystone position.

Wong is under contract through at least this season, but the Brewers do have a club option on him for 2023 at $10MM with a $2MM buyout. At the pace he’s going, that option is likely to be picked up.

Wong is a veteran presence that brings offense, defense, and swagger to a Brewers squad that really needed some more of all three heading into last season. He will bring that again in 2022 and thus comes in at no. 7 on our list of the Top 10 Brewers on the roster right now.

Stay tuned to Reviewing the Brew as we continue our countdown.