PITTSBURGH -- For the first time that he would run onto the field as a Major Leaguer on Friday, rookie Masyn Winn purposely followed in the footsteps of superstar third baseman Nolan Arenado before veering off to shortstop, and he asked first baseman Luken Baker to give him a second before rolling him practice grounders so he could fully savor his surroundings.
For Winn, getting to the big leagues was always the goal, and he’s seemingly been on a collision course with being the Cardinals' shortstop of the future for three years since being a second-round pick in 2020. Still, Winn wanted to fully soak the moment in through every one of his pores to contrast what he always thought this moment would be like compared to how it really felt.
“I wanted to run behind ‘Nado because I [respect him], and once I got to short, I just looked around,” Winn recalled of his MLB debut vs. the Mets at Busch Stadium. “I told [Baker] to give me just a second so I could take it all in, and I took a deep breath, and it was fantastic. It was better than I could have imagined.”
Winn’s first road game as a big leaguer came on Monday night at PNC Park, and it was a rough one for him, fellow rookie Drew Rom and the Cardinals in an 11-1 loss to the Pirates. Rom, a surprise callup when Matthew Liberatore’s start was pushed back, allowed eight runs (six earned) on eight hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings with more than 40 friends and family looking on.
As for Winn, he went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. However, the hitless night did little to dampen the high-energy 21-year-old shortstop’s feel-good vibes about finally reaching the big leagues. Most of Monday, he said he marveled at how MLB teams travel in style and how their almost every need is taken care of by a staffer strategically in place to offer support.
Winn got a heavy dose of his reality on Sunday night when he and fellow rookie Jordan Walker were given the assignment of walking through downtown Pittsburgh to pick up a couple of dozen tacos for the Cardinals' veteran players. Winn said he happily fulfilled his rookie responsibilities because he is eager to prove he belongs on baseball’s grandest stage.
“Last night, we had to go pick up all the tacos for the ‘big dogs,’ so we walked over to get them in our suits,” Winn said. “Jordan’s been great so far, helping me out with things like that. It was cool.”
Winn, who smashed 18 home runs in 105 games at Triple-A Memphis to earn his MLB callup, notched his first MLB hit in his first game -- a moment that will be remembered for Mets star Pete Alonso throwing the ball into the crowd. He got that ball and gifted it to his mother, Tiffany, who was on hand to see his first games as a big leaguer. Having family around to savor in his MLB debut has been his best highlight, Winn said.
“I was telling some of the guys, it might have been a bigger weekend for [my family] than it was me,” Winn said. “My mom worked so hard to help me get to where I am today. For it to finally pay off and see them get to reap the rewards, it was fantastic. They loved it.”
Cards manager Oliver Marmol has loved what he’s seen so far from Winn, who hasn’t looked one bit overwhelmed by being on the big league stage. Noted Marmol: “This is who we got, and we know what we have in him. We were able to see him quite a bit in [Spring Training], so nothing unexpected.”
In addition to getting himself ready to play on Tuesday, Winn has a goal in the coming days to try and return some of the hundreds of congratulatory text messages he received upon reaching the big leagues. One message, from Rangers senior advisor of baseball operations Dayton Moore, meant a lot to Winn because of Moore’s history of success, including leading the Royals to the 2015 World Series crown.
“Too many texts, for sure, and I’ve tried to get back to as many of them as I could,” Winn said with a sigh. “Getting one from Dayton Moore was special. I played with his son, Robert, on the USA team while growing up. He told me to stay around Adam Wainwright because he’s such a great guy. That was great for me hearing from [Moore] because I’ve known him for so long, and he took care of me when I was younger. So, to get that text from him was huge.”