“A healthy Jhonny is going to be a big product from what we had last year when he was coming off surgery. That really took away a lot of his strength and you could see it. The same thing happened with Yadi the year before. You can see how radically different it is because you just don’t have the strength to finish the swing.”

That leaves Kolten Wong, who could be a terrific asset as a defender and still an unknown as a hitter. He is likely to hit eighth until he shows otherwise but Matheny will leave him at second base because of the increasing surety in Wong’s fielding and the chance of a surge in his offense.

“He flashes some brilliance and he’s one of those guys who definitely could win us some games with what he can defensively,” Matheny said. “After that last stint he had in the minors last year, he was electric in the way he was covering ground. I hate to have him off the field defensively. There are people like me who know what that is. But he’s different than I was when I played. This kid can hit.”

Matheny said Wong’s biggest element is maintaining consistency. There are times when he uses the whole field. There are times when he uses virtually none of it as he swings at too may bad balls.