Time To Start Winning
The exciting young shortstop is heading to St. Louis.
“They grab Ugarte. Then she walks in. Well, that’s the way it goes. One in, one out.”—Rick Blaine, Casablanca
Like most of my generation of Cardinals fans, I grew up fascinated with Ozzie Smith. Ozzie was one of the reasons I started following baseball. It wasn’t so much the backflips, which were remarkably cool, but the amazing defense. I still love seeing double plays because of his work. Shortstop is still my favorite position. The man defined those ‘80s teams for me more than anyone else did. You can talk about McGee and Coleman, but it was Ozzie that captured my attention. I still have the photo of the two of us (and a gaggle of other kids) framed on my shelf—me the gangly, geeky teenager, him the to-be Hall of Famer.
I remember how thrilled I was, still fairly new to the blogging bit, to have the opportunity to interview him before the 2009 All-Star Game. Weeks later, my family and I had gone up to FanFest and afterwards, along with some friends, went to eat at Ozzie’s restaurant, because of course.
Who should not only come in but stop at our table but Ozzie. After thanking us for coming in, he sat in a private room right behind our table with the door open as he waited on his guests. He then chatted with my 4 1/2 year old son, asking him about FanFest. After his dinner (which, as we saw when he left, included Willie McGee) he stopped by again at our table and was gracious enough to let me get a picture of my boy and him together.
I say all of that in part because I love to tell my Ozzie stories but to also give you some insight in why Masyn Winn has also captured my imagination.
Coming into spring training, all the focus was on Jordan Walker. Rightfully so, of course, as Walker had bashed his way to the front door of the majors and while I didn’t expect he’d make the opening roster, he was definitely going to be a fun player to follow in Jupiter.
With the World Baseball Classic, we knew that young players like Walker and Winn would get some time to shine. What I didn’t expect to see was Winn not only grab that opportunity, but make it look like he’d been doing it for years.
The offense was surprising, but the defense was mesmerizing at times. He made over-the-shoulder catches. He made remarkable tags. He did incredible double plays.
You could be forgiven if you felt like you’d been thrown 40-plus years back in time. Except that this version of Ozzie brought a bat. Winn didn’t just hold his own in spring, he thrived against pitchers much better than he’d seen in the past. He was the whole package and if the Cardinals hadn’t had a glut of infielders, the cries for him to make the team when they went north would have been significantly louder.
Like the meme says, before he had my curiosity. Now he had my attention.
Of course, Winn’s highest stop before 2023 had been just a partial season at Springfield. Coming into spring, he was likely ticketed for a return trip but with his work in the Grapefruit League, the club went ahead and moved him to Memphis.
Unsurprisingly, he struggled a bit to start the season. It was an advanced assignment for him. However, once he figured it out, he thrived.
Since June 1, he’s slashed .323/.392/.571, not quite to Mr. Perry’s aesthetic .300/.400/.500 mark but real darn close. He has 12 doubles and 12 homers in that span. He only has six steals but that’s probably in part because he’s rarely on first base. Out of his 73 hits, he was on second or beyond 28 times. The defense has not slumped at all either.
The MLB package this year includes minor league affiliates and even though I’m blacked out of St. Louis (6 hours away) I can watch the Memphis games (3.5 hours away). Over the last month, I’ve tried to catch as many of those as possible, mainly because of Masyn Winn. It’s felt like a rare night when he doesn’t hit a home run. I’m surprised when one of his at-bats ends with an out.
Expecting Winn to salvage something of the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals season is putting too much on his shoulders, though it’s very possible he’s up to that challenge. I’m going to be interested to see if his arrival unlocks something in Jordan Walker. I’m going to be interested to see if his personality loosens up a clubhouse that seems lifeless.
Mainly, though, I’m going to be interested in Masyn Winn. Shortstop is a legendary position in St. Louis. I think this kid could write a new chapter in that book.
So last week I went to a meeting of the Robinson-Kell chapter of the Society of American Baseball Research. My friend Jim Yeager, who has written two books on the various ballplayers in Arkansas history, invited me down and it was an enjoyable afternoon listening to presentations and talking baseball with the various folks there.
The featured guest was Mark Tolbert, who was a batboy for the Atlanta Braves (though he was in the visiting clubhouse) back for the 1967 season. Just listening about how he got the job showed you how different times were back then. He had great stories about Hank Aaron, Pete Rose, even Red Schoendienst. He also mentioned that he got to meet Stan Musial, who came with the club on their trip to Atlanta that year.
The other presentations were not bad either and though I had to dip out before it was over, I look forward to their next meeting in January or February. If you are in Arkansas, I’d encourage you to come by next time. If you aren’t, see if there’s a SABR chapter around you!