Cardinals' Masyn Winn is learning to place home runs on the back burner

The St. Louis Cardinals offense is struggling to get off the schneid in spring training, and one of the team's scuffling hitters is 2024 rookie standout Masyn Winn, who has only one hit in 21 at-bats. But improvement may be on the horizon, as Winn is no longer subjecting himself to the allure of the long ball.

In an STLToday article by Lynn Worthy (subscription required), Winn mentioned that he had been attempting to pull fly balls out of the park for home runs in spring. But after failing to see tangible results, he is now taking the advice of hitting coach Brant Brown and assistant hitting coach Brandon Allen and going back to what worked for him in 2024, when he hit .267.

Winn is switching his focus at the plate back to hitting for contact and utilizing his speed.

At his best, Winn would hit line drives to right field. However, pitchers became wise to this in the second half and began pitching him inside more often, which led to a decline in batting average but an uptick in power, as he turned on some of those pitches. Of Winn's 15 home runs, 10 occurred after the All-Star break.

It's hard to blame Winn for entering spring chasing the high of the home run. In the modern game, power is king, and the highest-paid hitters aren't the ones who slap singles. Spring training is a time for players to experiment with new strategies, so Winn's attempt to add another dimension to his game to help the Cardinals — and his wallet — is understandable. It could even be welcome, as he now knows not to attempt to adapt a slugging approach in the regular season.

Although Winn's quest for power didn't work out in spring training, the shortstop deserves praise for knowing when to return to the style of play that allowed him to succeed in the big leagues. Winn knows that, at least for now, he is a contact hitter with speed and elite defense. If he wanted to become a power hitter, preparing in the offseason by adding weight and muscle would have been the optimal choice, although it would likely sap Winn of much of his speed and defensive range and thus not be conducive to the type of player the Cardinals drafted him to be.

At the Winter Warm-Up, Winn said he wanted to steal 30 to 40 bases in 2025. It's a lofty goal, and one that will obviously necessitate him to get on base at a strong clip. But Winn has just shown his ability to clear the difficult hurdle of understanding and accepting the type of player that he is. If he can build on the traits that made him successful in 2024, there's no telling what heights he can reach.