Five games into the season, both Masyn Winn and Willson Contreras have yet to record a hit. In the nine starts between the two of them, they are a combined 0-37. While the stretch is unsavory for the St. Louis Cardinals lineup, there doesn’t seem to be panic in the dugout over it.
Winn Continuing Spring Training Struggles
The season’s opening week looked similar to Winn’s Spring Training campaign. In 55 Spring Training at-bats, Winn managed just four hits, striking out 16 times and walking four times. In 21 plate appearances this season, Winn has struck out eight times and walked thrice.
After Monday’s 5-4 extra innings loss to the Los Angeles Angels, Winn said he’s frustrated, but confident he will turn it around.
“It’s just a long year. I’m going to have stretches where I can’t get out. I know that’s going to come at some point,” Winn told reporters. “But to dwell on these first four games is going to be really tough. If I’m really down on myself now, we’ve got 158 more left. I definitely don’t want to take it to heart too much now.”
Winn has managed to make decent contact on several occasions during the slump. According to Baseball Savant, half of the balls Winn has put in play have been hard hit. He says he has been putting a lot of work in with coaches in the batting cages.
“I think within the next couple of days everything is going to click,” Winn said.
A Positive Attitude on Winn’s Slump
The Cardinals opened the season with a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins. When Winn talked about his struggles with reporters on Monday, he told them winning was more important to him than his own personal statistics.
“If I’m pissed off while we’re winning that’s just selfish,” Winn said. “I want to go out there and be a good teammate. Try to help the team win on defense if I can’t offense and just go from there.”
Winn has been contributing well on defense. With the very small sample size, Winn already has an outs above average metric of one. That puts him in the top three percentile of league for fielding run value.
After the Cardinals 9-7 extra inning loss to the Angels on Tuesday, manager Oliver Marmol told reporters Winn is handling his offensive slump very well.
“He could easily get frustrated where one at bat leads to the next. Or at least how you play defense or your overall demeanor around the other guys, and you’re getting zero of that,” Marmol said. “The guy is dialed in on defense. He’s in the dugout doing what he normally does and bringing energy and excitement to the rest of the game, but it’s not going his way offensively. But I feel like he’s handling it really well.”
Winn is entering his second full MLB season. He is the only shortstop on the Cardinals roster after the team elected to start their other shortstop options in Triple-A.
Contreras Swinging Hard During Slump
While Winn has been positioned at the bottom of the lineup, Contreras is in the heart of it. His 0-19 streak has featured eight strikeouts. Five times this season, he has had an at-bat with runners in scoring position. Every time he has struck out in that position. Contreras was supposed to get an off day on Tuesday, but the team needed him to sub in during extra innings. He took the game’s final at-bat as the tying run with a runner on second and struck out.
Unlike Winn, Contreras enjoyed success in Spring Training. In 45 plate appearances this Spring, Contreras slashed .405/.511/.649. He hit two home runs, struck out seven times, and walked six times. All of this while getting his first game action at first base amid a position change for the 32-year-old.
While Contreras’ struggles have been costly for the Cardinals early on, there are some signs that things could turn around. For one, his bat speed has increased from 75.9 miles per hour last year to 76.8 this year. In a limited sample size, his bat speed this year puts him in the top three percentile for the League this season according to Baseball Savant. He’s also producing an optimal launch angle on 54 percent of the balls he’s put in play.
The Cardinals can afford to give Contreras time to figure things out, as he is splitting time with Alec Burlson at first base and DH.
Main Photo Credits: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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