Winker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

That pun is so good, I don’t even feel bad for never seeing the movie. I have read the book though, and while my generational weirdness for doing it reverse should be questioned, I do want to point out that in my defense, I have no way to tie any of this into the gist of this post. (Your mom’s a gist.) So without having to mash the keyboard and hoping I can somehow take you from a wonderful pun straight into the lede and make it all feel connected, we’ve saved some time by just describing what I would have done. Something like that. Look, this is a two-minimum drink lede that technically went nowhere. Well, I mean, we did technically scroll down a bit to get here, but I can’t fathom typing up another paragraph commenting on that distinction.

So spoilers aside (Winker to the moon!), I’ve been digging what Winker has been doing. Fourth grade writing level aside, the season is still young, but some trends are emerging, or perhaps that stage between not emerging and emerging. Sorta-merging maybe. Specifically, Jesse Winker has been able to start the season hot, but perhaps more importantly, has only been able to get hot by carving some playing time out of a crowded outfield. To the numbers!

The proverbial: Alright-alright-alright. And yes, Covid is how you end up with a lower average but higher on-base and slugging in 2020.

Really kind of shows how 2020 might have been a good indicator that Winkman would be on the rise when you see similar production in less than half the games than 2019.

And again, if you’re detecting your own trend, 2020 again confirms his growth at the plate. His walk percentage noticeably increased, fueling his .388 OBP. While his K’s went up too, the jump in ISO and a stable BABIP make this a great trade off in terms of overall production.

Speaking of power, Winker may not be your traditional power hitter, there’s enough to see here to at least intrigued. Just a small increase in his FB% led to a huge jump in his HR/FB ratio.

Another great sign in his Hard% going up. No one has literally complained about Hard% in my lifetime.

You’ve probably noticed I kinda ignored his 2021 numbers , and don’t feel weird about it, that’s intentional. Small sample sizes notwithstanding, as you scan down the post, it’s abundantly clear that his success so far this season can both be a confirmation that the last two seasons confirms his production now, and also it’s tough to put much weight into the past couple of weeks to change what he’s done the past two years. My head hurts.

Look, the bottom line is: with Naquin going quite cold and Senzel in his own funk (not to be confused with the magical “Funkytown”), where playing time looked to be a concern, it’s now an advantage in Winker’s favor and will give him ample opportunity to plant his bat in the lineup permanently.

You know, it wasn’t that long ago that Winker was a sought after piece to prospect upon. I feel like the last two years we might have seen him step up, but no better time than the present. Being healthy is the ultimate key in a lot of ways in sports, offering a way to open up doors you’d never think possible. So metaphorical! But you’ll see it every season, players step up for any number of reasons. In this case, is it so surprising that Winker just might have needed a bit of health to jar these underlying metrics loose? I’ll grant you that three weeks might not be enough time to make that determination, but why wait? I bet right now you can find a player on your team that could be replaced. And the time is now, before everyone else has noticed.

*cries in Hiura.

Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell. You can follow him @jaywrong, or read his rarely (like never) updated blog Desultory Thoughts of a Longfellow.