The St. Louis Cardinals are calling up one of their top prospects for the final few weeks of the regular season. The Cardinals are summoning shortstop Masyn Winn, the team announced Thursday night. He will wear No. 0. Outfielder Lars Nootbaar has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a lower abdominal contusion in a corresponding move.
Winn, 21, went 3 for 4 with his 18th home run of the season in Triple-A on Thursday night. He's hitting .288/.359/.474 overall and has stolen 17 bases in 19 tries in addition to swatting those 18 homers. Winn is also a solid defender at short, and he possesses one of the strongest arms in professional baseball. His throws have been clocked as high as 100 mph at shortstop.
Our R.J. Anderson ranked Winn the 24th best prospect in baseball in June. Here's his write-up:
Double-A is supposed to be the Burning Blade Challenge for hitting prospects, which is why it's been surprising to see Winn succeed there only to stub his toe at Triple-A. Through his first 46 games, he had one of the lowest barrel rates at the level. Pitchers, in turn, are spamming him with strikes. That's not a great combination. We do think Winn will be OK in the long run. He's young (he's playing the entire season at age 21) and he has a track record of hitting. He also has a good foundation of physical traits: good speed, a great arm (he was a two-way prospect as an amateur), and a fast bat. Sometimes players just take a little time to adjust. The Cardinals will hope that's the case here.
St. Louis has used Tommy Edman at short since trading away Paul DeJong at the deadline earlier this month, though Edman is versatile enough to play just about anywhere, and regular second baseman Nolan Gorman is on the injured list with a back issue. Winn at short and Edman at second figures to be the regular double-play combination moving forward.
The Cardinals selected seven players in the pandemic-shortened 2020 draft and Winn, their second-round pick that year, is already the third player from St. Louis' draft class to reach the big leagues, joining first-rounder Jordan Walker and compensation pick Alec Burleson. Competitive balance pick Tink Hence is also the club's top pitching prospect.
Wednesday's loss to the New York Mets (NYM 4, STL 2) dropped the Cardinals to 54-68 on the season. They have the fifth-worst record in baseball and traded away their veteran rentals at the deadline, including DeJong, Jack Flaherty, and Jordan Montgomery.
