Allan Winans absolutely deserves another start for the Atlanta Braves
The New York Mets didn't think pitcher Allan Winans was good enough to play for them. Matter of fact, they didn't think he was one of the 78 best players in the organization.
There's no other explanation for why they didn't protect him in the 2021 Rule 5 Draft, where Atlanta took him in the minor league portion and sent him to AA Mississippi to convert from relieving to starting.
It's not like he was BAD for the Mets - they took him in the 17th round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Campbell University, and used him exclusively as a reliever. He finished the 2021 season divided between High-A and AA for New York, pitching in 26 games with a 1.72 ERA.
But that wasn't good enough for New York, who left him unprotected.
Atlanta's conversion of Winans into a starter absolutely worked - he spent this season in AAA, compiling a 8-3 record in 20 appearances with a 2.79 ERA. The soft-tossing righty struck out 101 in 113 innings, but also walked only 29 and induced more than 50% ground balls.
His first MLB start, coming July 22nd against the Milwaukee Brewers on the road, was...fine? He went 4.1 innings with five hits and two runs, striking out five and walking one. It wasn't long enough to get the win, and Atlanta ended up dropping the game 4-3.
But his second start? Whew was it a great one.
Against the team that drafted him, Winans went seven scoreless innings with four hits and two walks allowed, striking out nine. He allowed a grand total of one extra base hit, a double by catcher Omar Narváez in Winans' final inning.
He worked the arsenal against the Mets, racking up a 35% CSW while throwing four different pitches almost evenly to New York hitters.
The velocity's not terribly impressive, no, but it's hard to argue with the results. Given the struggles that Atlanta's seen from their starters this season, most significantly Bryce Elder, it's hard to argue that Allan Winans doesn't deserve a home start next week against the San Francisco Giants. He'd be on extra rest for the Friday night matchup, the first of three games on Alumni Weekend for the Atlanta Braves.
UPDATE: As expected per his roster status as the designated 27th man, Winans was returned to AAA Gwinnett after the game. But, unlike when a player is optioned to the minors, there is no minimum time period he must remain at Gwinnett before becoming eligible to be called up (position players are ten days, pitchers are fifteen). He's still an option to be called back up for a home start next weekend.
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