Masyn Winn Moves Up St. Louis Cardinals Leaderboards By Extending Hitting Streak

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Amidst the St. Louis Cardinals' series-clinching win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday, one of the club's brightest young stars stayed hot in a historic way.
Rookie shortstop Masyn Winn went 3-for-4 with an RBI on Wednesday, helping the Cardinals snatch a 5-3 road victory at Great American Ball Park. He had an infield single in the top of the third, then two singles to the outfield in the fourth and ninth.
That first infield single was all Winn needed to extend his hitting streak to 18 games, though.
Winn now owns the longest active streak in the National League and the second-longest active streak in MLB, behind only New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe's 21 games.
According to MLB Stats, Winn's 18-game hitting streak is the second-longest by any rookie in Cardinals franchise history, which dates back to 1882. The franchise record belongs to Joe McEwing, who strung together a 25-game hitting streak during his rookie season in 1999.
Masyn Winn's 18-game hit streak is the 2nd-longest rookie hitting streak in @Cardinals club history, trailing only Joe McEwing (25 in 1999).
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) May 29, 2024
Winn is 25-for-68 (.368) during the streak and has raised his average to .308. pic.twitter.com/vL1GT1jgUH
Over his last 18 games, Winn is batting .368 with a .948 OPS. Prior to May 5, he was batting .264 with a .688 OPS.
The Cardinals were 15-21 in the earliest days of Winn's hitting streak, but are now back to .500 at 27-27. St. Louis is only 0.5 games behind the second and third NL Wild Card teams.
Winn made his MLB debut in 2023, at which point he was ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the Cardinals' farm system and the No. 32 prospect in all of baseball. The former second round pick got his first big league hit at just 21 years old, but his batting average remained below the Mendoza line in 32 of his 37 appearances.
Two months into the 2024 campaign, Winn has made sure to turn things around. On the whole this season, the shortstop is batting .308 with two home runs, 18 RBI, seven stolen bases, a .798 OPS and a 2.3 WAR.
Winn and the Cardinals have Thursday off, but he has a chance to extend his hitting streak Friday against the Philadelphia Phillies. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. ET.
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Sam Connon is a staff writer covering baseball for “Fastball on SI.’’ He previously covered UCLA Athletics for On SI’s All Bruins site, and is a UCLA graduate, with his work there as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for On SI’s New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Sam lives in Boston.
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