It started with an innocent question, one that most American boys ask their fathers at one time in their youth.

"When he was 9 years old, he told me, 'Dad, you think I have a chance of making it to the major leagues?' " Kaha Wong recalled son Kolten asking. "I told him this is what it's going to take: you cannot accept being second place, you cannot accept being not the fastest on the team, you cannot accept being not the strongest on the team, you can't accept losing every time."

Only time will tell if the dream will become reality. But for now, the University of Hawai'i baseball team and its fans are thrilled that freshman center fielder Kolten Wong is here. And for at least two more seasons.

Following a slow start — he was batting .228 after 14 games — Wong has gone on a tear. He has raised his batting average to .336, second to Vinnie Catricala's .341. He leads the team with seven home runs, three of which came in one game to tie a school record. He is second on the team in RBIs with 28 behind Kevin Macdonald's 31.

It wasn't a matter of if Wong was going to live up to expectations. It was when. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound left-handed hitter from Hilo, where he earned all sorts of accolades in athletics at Kamehameha-Hawai'i, was highly anticipated by fans. Wong was twice an Advertiser All-State catcher. The draft justified what UH knew all along when it offered him a scholarship in his junior year.

"Most of the time, when you recruit someone that early, you feel they're good enough right now to play at the Division I level," UH coach Mike Trapasso said. "You know they're just going to get better. That's what Kolten was. It wasn't hard to know he was going to be a special player."

COMMITTED TO UH

Even though Wong made a verbal pledge to UH as a junior, other Division I schools — Arizona, UC Irvine, Baylor — tried honing in to no avail. Western Athletic Conference rival Fresno State made an offer during the summer, way too late considering Wong had already signed with UH.

"Every Friday and Saturday, I'd turn on the TV and watch UH baseball," Wong said. "I wasn't really thinks about pros. This was the main place I wanted to play."

Added Kaha: "His little-kid dream was to play for the Rainbows. If not, it was to get drafted. If not that, he wanted to play for Arizona State."

The Minnesota Twins selected Wong in the 16th round of the draft last June, adding interest for UH. Negotiations were stretched out between the family and the Twins. The Twins wanted to see how many of their higher draft picks were going to sign before they could commit to the $120,000 the Wongs sought. Kaha said he was told by then-Twins scout Dan Cox that the figure might work. But the Twins ended up signing one of their higher picks, so the most they could offer was $100,000, Kaha said.

"He said, 'Dad, I want to play for the Rainbows,' " Kaha said.

At one minute before midnight of the Aug. 15 signing deadline, the Wongs called the Twins to decline the offer. There was more to it than money.

"When I first got drafted, I thought for sure I was going to sign," Wong said. "After I thought about it, I realized that coming here ... I'd get stronger, better. Just become a better player, better person. I'd have a chance to mature more. That was kind of the deciding factor."

RIGHT STUFF

Aside from the offensive and defensive skills Wong brought to Manoa, he also packed a good attitude despite all the notoriety.

"He's been a real good teammate," junior third baseman Catricala said. "He cares about winning, getting the job done, so it's a good addition to the team."

Trapasso said Wong has blended in well with his teammates.

"It's about just performing and doing things the right way," Trapasso said. "The thing about Kolten is that even though he's a freshman and he's come in and gotten some publicity because he's done so well, our guys have embraced that because they know that he's a good player.

"But yet Kolten hasn't had any sense of entitlement. He knows that he's gotta continue to work and that puts him in a position to fit in so well with our guys. That comes from his upbringing. He doesn't feel entitled to anything. He has earned everything that's happened to him so far."

What's happened so far has been a steady improvement.

Batting in the front of the UH order, he was hitting .247. Since being moved to the fifth spot on March 27, the second game of the Coastal Carolina series, Wong has responded by hitting .524. He was the WAC Hitter of the Week this past week in the series at Nevada.

As for his ability to be ready as a freshman, that started long ago. Kaha had his son hitting everyday. Christmas Day, New Year's Day. They would also run on the beach. Family members questioned their motives.

"But he told this is what it's going to take to be the best," Kaha said. "That's what we do. The best thing about it is he wanted to do it. I didn't have to force him to do it. He wants to do it."