Right on schedule, confident Masyn Winn is poised to be Cardinals’ opening day shortstop
A little start of spring training soreness is to be expected for most players, and it’s generally considered a natural progression from the relatively slower pace of the off-season to full-fledged, full team workouts.
When the St. Louis Cardinals opted to hold Masyn Winn out of two days of batting practice with upper back stiffness, it meant that he would miss both of Saturday’s split squad games. No one minds an extra day off in spring, right?
“It [ticked] me off, for sure,” Winn said Sunday after his spring debut was pushed back a mere 24 hours. “Not in a bad way by any means, but man, I wanted to be out there so bad. We had two games going and I couldn’t be a part of either one of them. It sucked.”
He wasted no time being a part of Sunday’s, leading off a 3-0 victory over the Houston Astros with a hit and tacking on two more, as well as a stolen base and an outstanding play from shortstop which flashed the arm that just might be the best on an infielder in the major leagues.
That play started with an awkward grip out of the glove.
“Kind of a palm ball, almost like a changeup grip,” he explained. “Just tried to throw it like a fastball.”
“I’m happy to know that this thing still works,” he added, shrugging his right shoulder.
Winn’s days as a two-way player may be over after just one inning as a pitcher in professional ball – he tossed a perfect inning with a strikeout for High-A Peoria in 2021 – but he remains convinced, and happy to remind his teammates, that he could climb back up the mound at any time.
“Three or four times a day,” prospect starter Gordon Graceffo estimated of the reminders from Winn. “He likes to tell us that he can take our job whenever he wants.”
Rather than that attitude wearing on teammates, it endears Winn to them. And it’s a reminder both of the trust that he has in himself and the commitment the organization has made to his future at shortstop. Whatever spring competition may have existed for the starting job in the big leagues evaporated with Tommy Edman’s delayed start, and there is no backup plan.
The job the Cardinals need Winn to take is the everyday shortstop’s job, and come opening day, he will be responsible for demonstrating his readiness for it.
“He believes in himself, we believe in him, and he plays like it,” manager Oliver Marmol said.
“You want to put good voices around him. That’s one of the things we definitely want to do, because he’s going to go through ups and downs. As long as he’s continuing to take a step forward every game – I mean that every game he’s learning something new, whether it’s a big part of the game or something very minute, having people around him, coaches and players that can push him, is important.”
Winn turns 22 at the end of March, making him the youngest player to enter camp as the outright starter at a position for the Cardinals since Colby Rasmus took over center field 15 years ago, excluding teammate and friend Jordan Walker, who is two months younger and cemented in right.
That is as much by design as by necessity.
Last season’s end-of-year dress rehearsal for Winn was scripted as a follow-up to a standout spring, and was an attempt by the team to short circuit some of the shock that can accompany a player’s first trip to the majors, no matter how physically ready they may be.
“He’s got a certain confidence about him, and he doesn’t scare,” Marmol said. “I think when he goes through struggles, he’s still going– we saw some of it last year where it didn’t go his way but he never backed down. He approached every day the same way. As frustrated as he was, he still played the game with energy and with confidence. That’s hard to do.”
Winn concurred.
“I think the biggest jump for me was having that month up there last year, getting that experience and knowing what to expect coming into the year,” he said. “I think that was the biggest thing. I mean, compared to last year, definitely feel a lot more confidence. A lot more.”
That confidence may not take him back to the mound, but his experience there helps. Winn said that he still utilizes his variety of pitch grips while playing catch and taking infield practice in order to minimize his risk of wild throws. By his reckoning, if he can deliver the ball true across the diamond with a slider or changeup or a pure fastball grip, he can shave off segments of second.
A player who described the game speeding up on him in the second half of last season is now learning how to slow it down, and allow his own speed to dictate the pace. He spoke to reporters on Sunday outside the visiting clubhouse at the Cacti Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in shoes that had “BLAZE” printed on the heels – a useful suggestion, as well as his fortuitously given middle name.
“I’m just trying to go out there and have a good time,” Winn said. “You know, catch a few barrels, make a few plays, try to give the fans something they want to see.”
They only had to wait a day to see it.
