Jesse Winker Is Figuring It Out at Perfect Time For Mariners
In this story:
The Mariners struck a huge deal with the Reds about a month before the season, acquiring 2021 All-Star Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suárez. Winker was regarded as the headliner, but early season struggles have led to ugly numbers.
The move to the American League seemed to impact Winker, as well as fellow National League import Adam Frazier. Both have been heating up as of late, however, though the recent defensive struggles of Winker may have skewed the perception of him in the Seattle fan base.
Since June 21, Winker has actually been plain fantastic. His slash line in that time is .259/.377/.496, which is good for an OPS of .873 and a WRC+ of 156. More importantly: he has struck nine home runs during this period, finally breaking an alarming power outage to start the season.
Although he is still not driving the ball as well as years past, his numbers have slowly been climbing into the player Seattle thought it was acquiring back in March. I documented his struggles in an early season swing analysis, and Winker has been able to adapt to some of the struggles highlighted.
Winker was struggling mightily on fastballs at the top of the zone, but has started to make more solid contact as of late. One adjustment he has recently made is to flatten his bat out in his setup, possibly to create an easier entry into his swing plane.
As you can see in the clip below, Winker's bat was much more vertical in his setup. His main struggle was any fastballs above the belt, which are pitches he should be crushing.
The new setup features a flatter bat in his setup, which could be helping simplify an approach to catch up to elevated fastballs. The stance below is dramatically different than the one above.
This setup has paid dividends for the newly 29-year old, who crushed a homer on his birthday against the Angels on Wednesday.
That said, his defense has been very poor this season, which takes some of the shine off of a much improved offensive performance. As a result, he may need to DH more down the stretch, but Winker's bat is extremely valuable. These changes have been things he has been tinkering with all season, so it will be interesting to see if he sticks with them for continued success.
If Seattle gets this version of Winker the rest of the way, he could carry the club into the postseason.
