After his first full season with the St. Louis Cardinals, rookie shortstop Masyn Winn appears to be a cornerstone piece of the organization’s future. Winn combines solid offensive and defensive play while featuring high emotion and star power on the baseball diamond. As the Cardinals look to center player development and young talent this offseason, it’s clear Winn is a key piece of that.
Cardinals Shortstop Will Be A Key Part Of Rebuild
Solid Rookie Year
Winn set the organization record for games played at shortstop as a rookie with 147. In 2024, he had a slash line of .267/.314/.416 while tallying 57 RBI, 15 home runs, and 11 stolen bases.
Winn’s first full season was in 2024, but it wasn’t his first MLB action. Winn played 37 games in 2023 at the end of the season. His slash line in those games was much worse than in 2024 at .172/.230/.238. After the 2024 season, Winn told reporters that getting some time at the end of 2023 helped him succeed.
“I think having that month, month and a half or so of really struggling up here last year really helped me and got me mentally prepared for what could be,” Winn said.
At the plate, Winn didn’t give up easy outs. He had a whiff percentage of 18.8 percent, which was the 25th lowest among qualifying MLB players. He had the 35th lowest strikeout rate at 17.1 percent. Both metrics were in the top 25 percentile of the league. By the end of the season, Winn solidified himself as the Cardinals leadoff man.
Defensive Star
Winn is a finalist for the National League Golden Glove award at shortstop. If he wins it, he will be just the second Cardinals rookie to win the award. The other was Brendan Donovan in 2022.
#STLCards SS Masyn Winn ranked first among all MLB SSs in Defensive Runs Saved with 14 — four more than the next closest SS. Ezequiel Tovar (10) and Dansby Swanson (7) trailed Winn by a wide margin in DRS.
Winn, 22, also played in 150 games and 1,285.1 innings at SS. https://t.co/gjzu87HGpV
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) October 15, 2024
With a fielding run value of four, Winn was tied for seventh among MLB shortstops in the metric in 2024. Winn led all MLB shortstops in defensive runs saved at plus 14. He had an Outs Above Average of three, which was good for the top 16th percentile of the League. However, it put him 18th among MLB shortstops.
Perhaps where Winn shined the most as a defensive player was his arm strength. At 92.7 miles per hour, Winn had the second-fastest average throw from shortstop. He maxed out at a 101.2 mph throw from the infield.
“He’s done a great job of shoring up this defense here and providing that entertainment value for people when they come to the ballpark,” said Hall of Fame Cardinals Shortstop Ozzie Smith on the Cardinals Insider show in September.
Learning From The best
Winn has the benefit of being coached by his childhood hero in, Smith. “The Wizard” — Smith’s nickname for his stunning defensive plays — is now a coach and consultant in the Cardinals organization. Winn gets the benefit of working with him in Spring Training and having him available during the season.
“When I met him for the first time a couple of years ago, I was shaking. It was pretty crazy for me,” Winn said on the Cardinals Insider show. “Working with him this year in Spring Training and to go out there and show the skills off and to be somewhat the type of player he was is pretty special.”
The respect the Hall of Fame shortstop and the rookie shortstop have for each other is clear. Smith sees something special in Winn.
“His baseball intellect, his instincts are one of the things that makes him stand out,” Smith said. “I think that’s the thing that separates guys is their instinctive ability to be in the right place at the right time and he certainly possesses that.”
Ready To Grow
Winn purchased a house in Jupiter, Florida, to be closer to the Cardinals Spring Training facility. He is committed to growing as a player. When looking back on his first full season, Winn told reporters he had taken several lessons from 2024.
“It’s a long year, just being out there every day and just knowing it’s a grind I think will be good for me going forward,” Winn said.
#STLCards SS Masyn Winn said in the postgame that he recently purchased a home in the Jupiter, Fla., area, where he hopes to spend most of his offseason while working out at the Cards ST HQ.
He wants to improve on his rookie season, during which he hit .267 with 15 HRs, 57 RBIs, and 11 SBs.
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) September 29, 2024
Playing with high energy and emotion, Winn stands out as a marketing darling for the Cardinals. However, he acknowledged that can make disappointing seasons like 2024 harder.
“It’s tough, I’m a perfectionist and I hate losing,” Winn said. “It’s hard for me not to take every at-bat like it’s the biggest at-bat in the world or every game like it’s game seven of the World Series, but that’s something I’m getting used to. But I personally love playing with emotion. I feel like it gives me an edge out there.”
Winn has all of the tools as a player and a personality to be the face of the Cardinals for years to come. He is just 22 years old, and he will get the chance to be a cornerstone piece of the franchise.
Main Photo Credits: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
