Cardinals shortstop cements his status among league's best at the position

The St. Louis Cardinals' season was a disappointment, but the team did have a player receive individual honors as Masyn Winn was honored with the Gold Glove award at shortstop. They could potentially receive one more award as Brendan Donovan and Alec Burleson are finalists for the Silver Slugger award.

Winn's selection as the National League's best defensive shortstop was not a surprise to anyone who has watched Winn handle the position. With some help, he could also be a top choice for the Platinum Glove award, given to the league's overall best defender. He beat out Mookie Betts and Nick Allen for his first Gold Glove (and the team's 100th total) as he becomes a more recognizable name across baseball.

Cardinals' Masyn Winn is a top-10 shortstop in baseball, at minimum

As evidenced by Rawlings, Winn's defense is second to none at shortstop, and the rocket-armed youngster was tagged with just three errors all season. His athleticism and ability to throw strikes to first base regularly over 90mph made Winn a nightly highlight reel in the field, but those of us who have been tapped into the shortstop for a while are hoping for some more with his bat. Of course, he is just 23 years old and finished his second full season in the majors, despite ending up on the injured list twice and had his year cut short with a torn meniscus.

Winn's 2025 season saw pretty similar numbers as his previous season, albeit with less power which could be attributed to the nagging injuries. The former second-round pick had three seasons of double-digit homers in the minors, as well as three additional seasons with at least 28 stolen bases. So far in the bigs, Winn's career highs are 15 homers and 11 stolen bases and his .252 MLB batting average is nearly 20 points below his minor league average. As a prospect, Winn was given a 60-future grade for his hitting, as well as above-average power, giving him five-tool player potential.

At just 5'9, 185 pounds, Winn may not develop into a 25-homer shortstop, but a 20-homer, 20-stolen base season should be a regular expectation for the future face of the franchise. If he could do that and get back to his .265-.275 batting average, Winn could be one of the best shortstops in all of baseball. Coming into the 2025 season, the Cardinals' shortstop was humorously left off the top-10 list, failing to crack the list that had J.P. Crawford, Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts, and Dansby Swanson ahead of Winn.

I would be very surprised if Masyn Winn is left off of this year's top-10 shortstop list, but there could be an argument that he is approaching the top half of that list. By measure of fWAR, Winn was 10th in baseball at short, with 1 WAR separating him from the sixth spot occupied by Gunnar Henderson. To make that next leap, though, Winn would have to see a big jump in most of his offensive numbers as each player in the top five all hit at least 17 homers, stole 20 bases, hit .267, and had a WRC+ of at least 129. Winn fell short in each of those categories and checked in with a 91 WRC+, the lowest rating out of the top-20 qualified shortstops.