He demonstrated the prowess profoundly in a 7-6 win over the Padres on Sunday. He made a diving deflection of a ball that was smoked by San Diego’s Seth Smith, a desperate stop that allowed Wong to recover and get a game-saving out at first.

“You watch him, and he’s got 12 homers, and you see a big guy and you think, ‘Oh, maybe there should be more homers,’ ” Masterson said. “But his hands are just so good. You see him shooting balls out to left field, taking balls through the holes. I mean he’s been hitting (liners) the last two weeks that I’ve been here, sometimes right at guys. That’s the kind of hitter you want.

“But it goes back to the fact that he’s so athletic. I mean, the double play tonight, the balls he gets to down the line that most guys wouldn’t get to. It’s been impressive to watch him.”

Adams came up in the sixth Monday with the Cardinals trailing 4-3 and stroked his 28th double of the season to left, driving an outside pitch to the opposite shore. Teams continue to often play a shift against Adams. But his measurements notwithstanding, the Silent Assassin has never been such a one-dimensional batter.