Wingenter's Growth Earns Him His First Major League Call

This week, reliever Trey Wingenter accomplished what most children who pick up a baseball dream of. Standing an imposing 6-foot-7 and saddled with a mid-to-upper 90s fastball and a wipeout slider, the 24-year-old received his first promotion to the major leagues, lifting a weight off his shoulders.
"I think about getting the call every day, multiple times a day," Wingenter said last week. "I know I can't get sucked into it though, because my job is to take the ball in whatever situation my team needs me in and get three outs before runs score. If I'm doing that on a consistent basis and I'm tough on hitters, that call will eventually come. It crosses my mind, but once I get to the ballpark, it's all about throwing up zeroes."

The former El Paso right-hander went 3-3, with a 3.45 ERA and four saves in 40 appearances with the Chihuahuas this season. He was unscored on in his last seven outings, leading the Padres to give him the call that he had been thinking about on Sunday.
The promotion fulfilled a lifelong dream of Wingenter's, one that started when his father, Tony, began throwing two-year-old Trey whiffle balls in their backyard.
Growing up in football crazed Alabama, Wingenter played football and basketball, in addition to baseball until the 10^th grade. However, once Wingenter finished his junior in high school, it was all baseball.
"When I played summer ball after my junior year, I really started pitching," Wingenter said. "After that summer, college offers started coming in and that made baseball more real for me."   
That summer, Wingenter pitched for the Atlanta Blue Jays travel ball team. Entering that summer as mostly a first baseman, Wingenter met Blue Jays coaches Steve Loureriro and Anthony Dye, who not only converted him into a pitcher, but changed the course of his future.
"Those guys changed my career," Wingenter said of Loureriro and Dye. "I wasn't even a pitcher when I showed up there. I lived with Steve in his basement and we did pitching drills every day. He's a pitching genius and had a routine that's developed tons of pitchers. That summer in Atlanta absolutely changed my career."
During and following that summer, Wingenter had a decision to make. He received an offer to play at his mother Rhonda's alma mater, Auburn. As Wingenter says, where he was going to go to college was never in doubt.
"I grew up an Auburn fan. My mom graduated from Auburn and I remember getting a call from them that first day with an offer," Wingenter said of his college recruitment. "I was advised to see other places and keep my mind open, but it was over for me right from that first moment. There was never a doubt that I was going to go to Auburn, because that's where I always wanted to go, even if I wasn't playing baseball."
After going 9-0, with a 0.47 ERA and throwing three no-hitters as a senior at Bob Jones High School, Wingenter began a three-year career at Auburn in 2013.
The right-hander posted a 3.68 ERA as a freshman, a 3.33 ERA as a sophomore and a 4.28 ERA as a junior and while he was never the number one pitcher, Wingenter credits Auburn for helping prepare him for professional baseball.
"At Auburn I was never the main starting guy, so I spent a lot of time early in my college career starting mid-week games and coming out of the bullpen and doing a little of everything and I think that's what most prepared me for pro ball," Wingenter said.
"Coming into pro ball, I had pitched in a lot of different situations from the first all the way through the ninth inning and beyond, so that was what prepared me to be open minded coming in to pro ball, where I had no idea what my role would be," he added.
While he didn't know what his role would be after being selected by the Padres in the 17^th round of the 2015 draft, Wingenter knew one thing, he needed to rest.
"All throughout college, my arm never felt wonderful. There were times when my arm was hanging, but my velocity going into pro ball wasn't great. I played fall and winter ball in addition to the college season that year and I felt fatigued, because it was a long season," Wingenter said. "I rested that offseason and put the ball down for about two months for the first time in three or four years, came back in the spring hitting 95, 96 again and I feel like it has built up as I've gotten stronger."
As 2016 began, Wingenter started to settle into a late-inning reliever role. Citing self-reflection, as well as help from coaches in the Padres' organization, the right-hander began to take steps forward as a pitcher, beginning with his aggressiveness.
 
"I've tried to develop a more aggressive mindset, with less worry about failure and more attacking the hitters," Wingenter said. "When I pitch, it's with everything I have. I don't worry about, what if he hits it, but instead I trust in the stuff that I have."
In 2017, Wingenter really began to see the results of his development. As a 23-year-old, the right-hander was the main closer, saving 20 games for the San Antonio Missions, a team that finished the year 78-62 and qualified for the Texas League postseason. While he says most of the minor leagues is about growth, Wingenter adds that nothing helps more than breeding a winning culture.
"When you expect to win every night, that's healthy for everyone from a bullpen's perspective," Wingenter said. "Our starters were turning in great starts. No one was afraid to go into any situation and succeed. On a winning team, that's what builds trust and that's when you get the most out of your development."
That development took another step forward, as in 2018, the Padres invited Wingenter to Major League Spring Training. The right-hander allowed six runs in four innings, but said the most valuable experience came off the field.
"The Padres happened to have a loaded bullpen, with guys where I strive to be, late in the bullpen for a big-league team. They had guys like Yates, Stammen, Hand and others that you can watch from a distance and pick their brain," Wingenter remarked. "When you see that's where you want to be with your career, you see how those guys are successful and go about their business in that role, you can definitely learn a lot."
Following the conclusion of Spring Training, Wingenter was placed on the Chihuahuas opening day roster. The righty struggled to begin the season, ending April with an 8.10 ERA. Wingenter, however, made the necessary adjustments, pitching to a 2.23 ERA after the calendar turned to May.
"I started off slow and part of it was mechanical. I fell into some bad habits at the end of spring training, but just knowing that you don't have to re-invent yourself at a new level was important," Wingenter said. "I felt like I needed to stick with what worked for me at High-A and Double-A, which was being aggressive and getting ahead in the count. Hitters here know the zone a little better and do more damage on mistakes, but it was about consistency for me."
With his MLB debut now under his belt, Wingenter knows he has all the ingredients, both mental and physical, to become a quality Major League late inning reliever. But for now, he's not putting too much pressure on himself.
"I try to really simplify it, sometimes you're going to come out and feel great with the fastball and slider and have an easy inning, but sometimes, guys get hard base knocks. I know I just need to stay focused on those three outs and whatever comes in between."