Class in session: Braves pitcher had an incredible side-gig when called up

Allan Winans starred in the Atlanta Braves’ masterful 21-3 shellacking of the New York Mets last week. Before the call-up, he was pitching for Triple-A Gwinnett — and working a commendable side gig. 

The Atlanta Braves have been the kings of New York lately. The peak of their reign was Saturday, Aug. 12, when the Braves stomped the Mets 21-3 at Citi Field, right in front of the NYC faithful. The star of the show? Allan Winans, making his second career MLB start.

Winans, a 28-year-old from Bakersfield, California, tossed seven scoreless innings against the team that drafted him. While the recent return of Max Fried will probably keep Winans out of the Braves’ MLB rotation for a while, his masterful performance in New York put him on the radar. It was a seminal moment in Winans’ career.

In a recent interview with NPR’s Scott Simon, Winans spoke about the exaltation of the moment, his career, and his unique circumstances. During the summer, Winans pitches with the Gwinnett Stripers with dreams of a big-league call-up. In the winter, he’s a substitute teacher.

Atlanta Braves’ RHP Allan Winans pitches and substitute teaches.

There are few more admirable professions than teaching. Winans gets to interact with the next generation and, in his own small way, shape the future of humanity. It’s rewarding work. And, for Winans, his big MLB moment came with a wave of support and gratitude from the Bakersfield teaching community and his students.

"“Some of [my students] have reached out. Some friends that I know that teach, some teachers that I’ve subbed for have reached out. The amount of gratitude that I have felt over the last few weeks and some change has been unbelievable. Like, I wish – not everybody can make it to the big leagues, obviously, but I wish everybody can feel that type of gratitude that I felt at some point in their life. It was truly, truly amazing.”"

Winans is not alone when it comes to minor league baseball players who need to seek other employment during the offseason. Every professional baseball player faces trials and tribulations before reaching the big stage, which Winans is mindful of. It’s a grind, but in the end, that only makes the reward sweeter.

"“I think there’s a lot of guys that you could write a movie about. A lot of people are making this into, like, a really, really cool story, which – because it is, right? But I think that everybody making it to the big leagues and the grind that we have to go through, the sacrifices we have to make – for everybody across the board, if you get a chance to make it through that threshold, it’s pretty special.”"

Winans will presumably finish the season with Gwinnett. The Braves are loaded up on starting pitchers at the moment, and that’s with former Cy Young contender Kyle Wright still on the road to recovery.

He will presumably finish the season with Gwinnett. After that, he has a big summer ahead. He’s not “not looking too far ahead,” as he told NPR, but there’s natural expectation that will follow a performance like last week’s.

Whether Winans can channel his early momentum into a long MLB career, we will have to wait and see. But, it’s hard not to root for the guy.