ST. LOUIS -- Though it has not shown up yet with his performance at the plate, Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn stressed that there¡¯s a newfound maturation to his game in his second full big league season.
He knows that he has grown in many ways as a player because of how he¡¯s handled a somewhat troubling slump to open this season.
¡°Last year, I would have been sulking a little bit and been pissed off around everybody,¡± admitted the 23-year-old Winn, whose 0-for-5 night kept him hitless through four games. ¡°But this year, we¡¯ve got a good team in here. We¡¯ve got good vibes, and I¡¯m trying to keep it that way.¡±
Winn, a foundational piece for the Cardinals following a stellar rookie season in 2024, had opportunities to win Monday¡¯s 5-4 loss to the Angels in 10 innings at Busch Stadium, but he hit into bad luck in the bottom of the eighth and struck out to end the game with the potential tying run on first base.
The missed opportunities left Winn in an 0-for-14 skid with seven strikeouts. That rough patch is magnified, of course, because it is happening at the beginning of the season. However, it has come on the heels of a Spring Training where Winn was just 4-for-50 (.080) with 16 strikeouts in 17 games.
Despite the continuation of the struggles, Winn said his comfort level now is dramatically improved over Spring Training, when he was too often searching for answers and either swinging under balls or popping them up.
¡°Whatever I was working on in Florida didn¡¯t work, and I feel like I didn¡¯t catch one barrel in spring. And today I caught two of them by doing some different things [Sunday] and [Monday],¡± said Winn, who finished second in MLB in 2024 in two-strike hits with 80. ¡°I¡¯m feeling a lot more comfortable. It¡¯s weird because I actually feel great at the plate even though I¡¯m not hitting well. At least that [comfort] is a good thing.
¡°But [assistant hitting coach Brandon Allen] and [hitting coach Brant Brown] are working with me every day putting in extra work, and it¡¯ll come around soon.¡±
Winn is confident of that because of at-bats like the one he took in the eighth inning with two on and two outs in a 3-3 game. Winn was right on an 85.8 mph slider from Angels rookie reliever Garrett McDaniels and he crushed the pitch 107.9 mph off the bat. The bad news, however, is that Winn hit it right at third baseman Yo¨¢n Moncada, who flipped the ball to second for a force out that ended the Cardinals' threat.
¡°He¡¯s going through that stretch right now that every one of these guys will go through at some point during 162 games, but he¡¯ll get out of it,¡± manager Oliver Marmol said. ¡°He could easily get frustrated where one at-bat leads to the next, or it could affect how you play defense or your demeanor around the other guys, and you¡¯re getting zero of that.¡±
Added Lars Nootbaar, the Cardinals' hottest hitter with two hits and another home run on Monday: ¡°He hit three balls pretty hard today and wasn¡¯t rewarded for any of them. But if he keeps hitting balls 108 [mph], then they¡¯re going to find some holes. He¡¯ll be breaking out of this pretty soon.¡±
Winn said the Cardinals' strong start -- when they scored 19 runs, pounded out 30 hits and hammered five homers in a three-game sweep of the Twins -- has helped to soothe his frustrations somewhat. Also, seeing the team¡¯s top hitter from Spring Training, Willson Contreras, go through similar struggles has served as a reminder about the cruelty of baseball at times. Contreras, who hit .405 with a .511 on-base percentage in Spring Training, remained hitless in 18 at-bats following an 0-for-4 night with three more strikeouts.
¡°Me and Willie are in the same boat, so we¡¯re kind of holding hands through this right now,¡± Winn joked. ¡°Last year, we both probably would be breaking things, yelling and getting pissed off. We know it¡¯s coming. He had a crazy spring, and I don¡¯t have that in common with him, but that dude¡¯s with me every step of the way, [Nolan Arenado] is with me every step of the way and a lot of these dudes are, too.¡±
As evidence of Winn¡¯s will not being broken, he spent most of Sunday¡¯s 58-minute rain delay in the batting cage with Brown working on his swing. Video cued up showed him hitting a ball 111 mph last season -- a stroke Winn is still searching for in 2025.
¡°It¡¯s not too far off, and I came out today and hit a ball 108 [mph], so I think what we¡¯re doing is working,¡± he said.