The St. Louis Cardinals have exceeded all expectations so far this season. A big 14-7 win in the nightcap of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies gave the team nine wins in its last 10 games, and it now finds itself just a game back of the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.
This year was supposed to be a reset, a chance for the team to take its medicine and see what it had in its young pieces. But then a funny thing happened: Those young pieces proved a bit more ready than anyone realized, accelerating that timeline dramatically. Breakouts abound, from Victor Scott II and Lars Nootbaar in the outfield to Ivan Herrera behind the plate and Matthew Liberatore in the rotation. The most impressive of all, though — and the one that means the most for the team's short- and long-term future — has come at shortstop.
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Masyn Winn is making the leap in year two with the Cardinals
A second-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, it took a little while for St. Louis to see what they had in Winn, who struggled in his first taste of pro ball. From there, though he rocketed through the Cardinals system — and up prospect rankings, thanks to his combination of elite shortstop defensive, tremendous athleticism and contact-oriented approach at the plate.
Winn held his own as a rookie in 2024, a league-average bat who more than looked the part with the glove. But he was more solid regular than the star the Cardinals fans had dreamed he might become — the star this team has been searching for over much of this decade. Of course, he was also just 22 years old, raising the possibility that he might improve with experience at the highest level.
And boy, has he ever. Some fans were punishing the panic button after he slogged through a dreadful spring training at the plate, and he failed to record a single hit over his first 21 regular-season at-bats. Since then, though, he's been scorching hot: A four-hit attack on Wednesday night has bumped Winn's slash line to .333/.414/.552 over his last 28 games, with five homers, six doubles and two steals. The defensive is as good as ever; if this is anything like who he can be with the bat — he's hitting the ball harder and hitting it in the air more often than he did in 2024 — then suddenly the Cardinals have a bonafide All-Star on their hands.
Granted, that's a small sample size. But it's backed up by his physical tools, and his approach at the plate is much improved. It's not out of the realm of possibility for Winn to blossom into a 20-20 (or even 20-30, if he can refine his base-stealing instincts a bit) player in his prime, which would give Chaim Bloom a foundational piece to build around as he looks to get this team back into contention. Scott II, Nootbaar and Co. are nice, but what this team needs is a star, and Winn is their best shot at one in quite some time.