Jesse Winker's Two Seasons With Blue Wahoos Help Mold Into MLB All-Star With Reds
Former Blue Wahoos manager Pat Kelly already knows his emotions will flow, seeing Jesse Winker start Tuesday in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. “I am just so proud. The relationship you develop with these players is like father and son, so you have that same kind of feeling,” said
Former Blue Wahoos manager Pat Kelly already knows his emotions will flow, seeing Jesse Winker start Tuesday in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
“I am just so proud. The relationship you develop with these players is like father and son, so you have that same kind of feeling,” said Kelly, who managed Winker in Pensacola during the 2015 season, as well as 2014 in Bakersfield, Calif. when both stops were affiliates with the Cincinnati Reds.
Winker, 27, the Reds’ 2012 first-round draft pick from Orlando’s Olympia High, will make Blue Wahoos history as their first former player to be a voted starter in an All-Star game.
Winker, who earlier this season led all MLB hitters in batting average, will be in left field for the National All-Stars on opening pitch Tuesday night at Coors Field in Denver.
“It’s just so great to see happen,” said Kelly, now manager of the Louisville Bats, the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate.
In 2019, former Blue Wahoos pitcher Luis Castillo was named to the National League team for the Reds and pitched in the fourth inning. There was no All-Star game in 2020 amid the shortened season due the coronavirus pandemic.
Winker, who played two seasons (2014-2015) in Pensacola, was voted into the lineup by fans, while enjoying a career season with the Reds. His .301 average puts him among just 14 players in MLB with a batting average .300 or better.
He has already surpassed his prior season highs for hits (96), RBI (50) home runs (19) and is tied his best season high in doubles (17).
“It means a lot,” said Winker, overcome with emotion during a tearful interview with Cincinnati media members on July 2 when the fans’ vote was announced. “I want to say thank you to everybody that voted for me.
“You know what, man, I never thought this could happen for me. I’m very thankful. Thank you to everybody. It means a lot to me.”
After joining the Blue Wahoos in the second half of 2014, Winker played in the 2014 Futures Game at Target Field in Minneapolis, along with another former Blue Wahoos player and No. 1 draft pick, pitcher Robert Stevenson. The host Minnesota Twins later became connected with Pensacola as the team's Double-A affiliate in 2019.
Winker played in 21 games in 2014 for the Blue Wahoos, batting .208 before an automobile accident curtailed the rest of that season.
In 2015, his average climbed to .282 in 123 games for the Blue Wahoos, helping lead the team to its first playoff appearance in franchise history.
That season, Winker’s second half was a preview of his future.
“It was actually what I had seen from him in Bakersfield the year before,” said Kelly, who managed the Blue Wahoos to post-season appearances in all three of his seasons in Pensacola, including a Southern League co-championship in 2017. “We moved him to Pensacola at end of the first half, which might have been a little bit of a rush.
“And then he had the car accident. But he could always hit and it was just a matter of him feeling comfortable at the Double-A level, and then everything went from there.”
What Kelly has seen now is Winker’s full progression as a professional player and big league star.
Winker also became a father in 2020, after his wife gave birth to a baby girl, Wren Mila Winker.
“Eventually, they all grow up and I think Jesse has really grown up and matured this year,” Kelly said. “He has little baby girl. And I think that has added to his maturity.
“He’s always had the ability and now I think we’re all seeing it come to fruition.”
Winker, born in Buffalo, N.Y., before his family moved to Orlando, made his MLB debut on April 17, 2017 with the Reds.
This season he is part of a dynamite pair of corner outfielders with Reds’ teammate, right fielder and fellow All-Star starter Nick Castellanos, the National League batting leader.
It’s the first time Cincinnati has placed two outfielders as starters in an All-Star game since 1956.
"Early on when I first got called up to the big leagues, I feel like I was just trying to find my way a little bit and fit in, not rub anybody the wrong way, play hard and just try to get focused," Winker said. "I tried to adjust to the level. As time passes, you start learning about yourself and learning about the guys you're playing against and
Winker made Reds’ team history earlier this season when hitting three homers in two separate games. Never happened before.
“Jesse has always had great bat-to-ball skills,” Kelly said. “He could always put the ball in play and hit the ball with authority.
“And to go with that, he’s had a great eye. When I was with him, he rarely swung at bad pitches. He had a great idea of the strike zone and when you see that in a young hitter, you knew he was going to progress.
"Everybody (back then) was worried about the power. But I think young hitters mature and as they mature, they learn to hit home runs. Especially if they have those bat-to-ball skills.”
WANT TO WATCH
WHAT: 91st Major League Baseball All-Star Game
WHEN: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. (CDT).
WHERE: Coors Field, Denver, Colo.
TV: Fox Sports (WALA-10).
WHO: American League Stars vs. National League Stars.
JESSE WINKER BIO
BORN: August 17, 1993.
BIRTHPLACE: Buffalo, N.Y.
HIGH SCHOOL: Orlando-Olympia HS.
DRAFT: First round (49th overall) in 2012 MLB Draft
BLUE WAHOOS: Played in second half of 2014 season in Pensacola, then all of 2015, total of 144 games with 29 doubles, 2 triples, 15 HR, 63 RBI.
MAJORS: Debut in April 2017. Five seasons, all with Reds. Career MLB average is .286. with 61 HR, 169 RBI.
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