A Wizard Defensively, Cardinals' Shortstop Must Make Hitting Strides in '27

Growth, as St. Louis Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol pointed out repeatedly over the final month of the 2026 season, can be measured in a variety of ways.

One way, of course, is the standings – an area where the Cardinals fell back a win from 2025 (78-84) to 2026 (77-85), one that was somewhat expected with the widespread youth on the roster and the club selling off veteran pitchers JoJo Romero and Dustin May for prospects at the MLB Trade Deadline.

Instead, the Cardinals tried to evaluate areas of growth in non-traditional ways in a non-traditional season in St. Louis.

Growth was having a defined core group of players – Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker, JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera, Masyn Winn, Michael McGreevy, Kyle Leahy and Riley O’Brien – take major steps in their games and evolve into building blocks.

Growth was seeing Leo Bernal, Joshua Baez, Quinn Mathews, Cooper Hjerpe and Nathan Church live up to the hype that followed them from the Minor Leagues and show signs they can be depended on going forward.

Growth was Andre Pallante and Gordon Graceffo shaking off the struggles of 2025 and showing the fortitude to change the trajectory of their careers.

“This is a really young group, but there’s been a lot of progress with so many of these guys,” Marmol said. “You can go up and down the lineup and you see growth from so many of our guys. Then, go to the rotation and what McGreevy, Pallante and Leahy did this season, and the bullpen as well. Our staff has really enjoyed pouring into that group. They are hungry for information and they want to be coaches, so that’s made it a lot of fun.”

However, as president of baseball operation Chaim Bloom reminds, the Cardinals still have major gulfs between them and MLB’s top teams. The National League champion Brewers, after all, finished 26 games ahead of St. Louis and battered the Cards in 11 of 13 head-to-head meetings. Much more growth is needed for the Cards to better navigate the difference the rebuilding and contending.

With growth being the focus, let’s look back at the performances by individual players in the 2026 season and how they will figure into the Cards’ plans going forward in 2027 and beyond:

Player name: Masyn Winn

Age: 24

How acquired: Selected by the Cardinals in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft

2026 statistics: 136 games, .232/.308/.317/.625, 54 runs, 109 hits, 21 doubles, two triples, five home runs, 56 RBI, 116 strikeouts, 48 walks, 10 stolen bases in 13 tries.

Key numbers: Winn, a Gold Glove winner in 2025, continued to be the gold standard at shortstop in 2026, ranking first in NL shortstops in Outs Above Average with 19. He ranked in MLB’s 99th percentile in Fielding Run Value, defensive range and arm strength among middle infielders. His throws across the diamond averaged 94.4 mph.

Looking back to 2026: Winn continues to be an absolute game changer with his defense at shortstop and he could be poised to win his second Gold Glove on Sunday. Winn (19) easily led other NL Gold Glove finalists Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo (12) and Chicago’s Dansby Swanson (12) in Outs Above Average. However, the Cardinals still feel like Winn has the talent to give the team more offensively. Since his breakout season of 2024 – when he hit .267 with 15 homers and 57 RBI – Winn has been in a freefall offensively. This season, his average (.232), on-base percentage (.308), homers (five) and OPS (.625) plummeted again. Winn’s plate discipline is great (85th percentile in chase rate), but his walk rate is blah (48th percentile in bases on balls). Meanwhile, his hard-hit rate (24th percentile) doesn’t seem to align with his squared-up rate (76th percentile).

Looking forward to 2027: Winn could be poised to dominate the decade with numerous Gold Gloves, but it’s simply not enough anymore for an everyday player to be all field and little hit. Winn is athletic, quick and talented enough to be a better offensive player for the Cardinals, but too often he gets too pull-happy when the team is trying to get him to go the other way on pitches on the outside corner. Advanced analytics show that Winn could have simply hit into some bad luck in 2026. Based on his quality of contact, Winn’s expected batting average was .245 – 13 points higher than his actual average. Also, his expected slugging percentage was .329 – 12 points lower than his actual slugging percentage of .317.   

Denton’s analysis: Here are the numbers that the Cardinals have to be the most concerned with as they relate to Winn: His OPS+ has gone from 102 in 2024 to 92 in 2025 to 80 in 2026. That means that Winn’s productive was 20 percent less than league average among shortstops in 2026. Even as spectacular as he is with the glove, Winn must be able to give the Cardinals more offensively in 2027. The Cardinals were 10th in the NL in runs and 15th in OPS and slugging in 2026, so they need tangible improvements to be made by their everyday shortstop. Also, Winn’s improvement at the plate is likely the only factor standing between him and a long-term contract extension being offered by the Cardinals.