Masyn Winn Knows Exactly What Could Hold Him Back as He Prepares for the 2026 Cardinals Season.yv

The St. Louis Cardinals were fortunate to have the very best defensive shortstop in the National League in 2025 in Masyn Winn.

The 23-year-old had his season end prematurely due to a meniscus injury in his knee, but he was still able to show what he can do throughout the campaign. Winn played in 129 games and had just three errors in 1,107 2/3 innings played at shortstop. That’s pretty insane. Winn finished tied for second in the league in outs above average with 21. Pete Crow-Armstrong and Bobby Witt Jr. both finished the campaign with 24. While this is the case, both Crow-Armstrong and Witt played 157 games.

There’s an argument that Winn is the best overall defensive player in baseball, but there’s more work to do. He noted that his goal for the offseason is to improve offensively, as transcribed by MLB.com’s John Denton.

“The biggest thing is I’ve got to improve offensively,” Winn said as transcribed by Denton. “Defensively, I hope I can stay where I’m at because you can’t really get too much better. But hitting-wise, there’s a lot to improve on.

“Pretty much every offensive aspect I regressed. So going forward, hopefully I’ve got a full, healthy season and I can put a good year under my belt.”

Winn was solid offensively in 2025. He slashed .253/.310/.363 with nine homers, 51 RBIs, nine stolen bases, and 72 runs scored. But, these numbers were a slight drop-off from his play in 2024 when he slashed .267/.314/.416 with 15 homers, 57 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases. His OPS also dropped from .730 in 2024 to .673 in 2025.

Now, some of that likely can be attributed to his ailing knee that impacted him for the entire second half of the season. It was shared that he got an injection around the All-Star break to try to stop the pain.

After the All-Star break, Winn slashed .247/.298/.331 with just two homers and 19 RBIs in 44 games played. Clearly, that knee had an impact.

Fortunately, he is making progress in his recovery. If he keeps up his stellar defensive play and takes another step offensively in 2026, this is a guy who realistically could be an All-Star for St. Louis soon.