Ranking the St. Louis Cardinals' 10 most important young players and prospects

#2 - Masyn Winn

Masyn. Winn.

Need I say more?

Fine, I will.

Masyn Winn is a superstar in the making.

John Mozeliak said it himself to myself and a group of bloggers and podcasters on Saturday afternoon. Winn has the Moxy, the makeup, and of course, the overwhelming talent necessary to be a star for a long, long time, and the Cardinals want to maximize every bit of him.

Expectations for Winn this year were that he plays great defense and is a valuable base runner for the Cardinals this year, and hits enough to warrant his glove being in the lineup every day. He's shattered those expectations thus far, putting up a .306 batting average and 126 wRC+ on the season.

Winn's bat-to-ball skills are already shining in a major way. He's a line-drive machine who knows how to beat any kind of pitcher. Winn boasts sneaky power that allows him to run into home runs and consistently slashes doubles and triples into the gaps, but in a few years, he'll be knocking 20 or more home runs each season as well.

With all of the hype surrounding division rival Elly De La Cruz, I think Winn has established himself as the best shortstop in the divison so far and deserves strong consideration for the All-Star Game.

We haven't even talked about his most prominent tools yet coming into the season. His arm is the best in all of baseball at shortstop and Winn is showing the ability to make plays at shortstop that very few people can do. He needs to cut down on the errors, but he has been a huge asset for St. Louis defensively.

He's also a skilled base runner who knows how to take an extra bag or two on a base hit by himself or someone else and swipes some bases as well. Winn is a dynamic talent at the most important position on the diamond, and he's somehow already put himself in some elite company as a rookie for the Cardinals.