In case you’ve missed it this week, St. Louis Cardinals “shortstop of the future” is starting to get comfortable at the plate. Masyn Winn, living up to his middle name, is off to a “blazing” start to the ‘24 season.
During a tight contest on Friday night, vs. the 2023 NL Champion, Arizona Diamondbacks, Winn calmly drove a four-seam fastball down the right field line for a stand up, RBI Triple. This timely, three-base hit extended the Cards lead to 8-6 in the eighth inning. The Cardinals would go on to The Cardinals went on to win the contest 9-6. On Saturday he went 2-4 with an RBI bringing his average up to .349.
Winn has collected 13 hits in 39 At-Bats. His .333 batting average and two triples, lead the team just fourteen games into the season.
Last season, the Cardinals called up their highly touted top prospect in mid-August. Winn had several moments last summer where he shined, showing a little pop in the box and exceptional fielding, but it was an overall struggle for him to hit consistently, as he batted .172, with just 21 hits, in 137 plate appearances over 37 games.
The triple in Friday nights’ game was impressive to behold, as you can see the growth in his game. Winn went with the pitch executed to the upper, outside corner, instead of trying to pull it, which shows Winn has been working on his approach at the plate.
Another example of this was Masyn’s RBI hit this past Monday against the Phillies, to tie the game in the ninth as proof of his adjustment this season at the plate. If you’re still not convinced, how about you get it from the source himself as he told MLB.com:
“Last year, I probably would have tried to hit a bomb to win it,” Winn said candidly following a night in which he was the only Cardinal with two hits. “We’ve got some other guys in the lineup for [home runs], so for me, I was just trying to put it in play and hope that something good would happen.”
Cardinals manager, Oliver Marmol also heaped praise on his young shortstop’s development.
“He’s doing a really nice job of really slowing the game down and not trying to do too much,” Marmol said. “He’s using the whole field and he’s understanding what type of hitter he needs to be. He takes that at-bat there [in the ninth] and it was good for him to come through because that’s something he can build on.”
I know what you’re thinking, “it’s only 14 games, pump your brakes”, and I get it! It’s early, MLB pitchers will make adjustments, yada yada. However, the idea of this kid’s bat catching up to his sensational glove work, is just very exciting for baseball this season.
