Masyn Winn was happy that he only suffered a fracture in his left thumb and that the joint is still structurally sound. The Cardinals' Gold Glove shortstop is targeting Sept. 1 -- when the Cards face the Dodgers in Los Angeles -- for his return to action.
While it might have been unsettling to some when the Cardinals upgraded the injury to Masyn Winn's left thumb from “sore” to “fractured,” the Gold Glove shortstop was actually relieved, and he thinks that his return to action is a matter of days and not weeks off the diamond.
Winn, who has played his baseball defensively and at the plate in the past month, was placed on the 10-day Injured List on Tuesday with a fractured left thumb that he hurt during a head-first slide into second base Aug. 18. The IL stint was backdated to Aug. 22, meaning that Winn could be back on the field by Sept. 1 when the Cardinals begin a three-game series in Los Angeles against the back-to-back champion Dodgers.
Winn, 24, was relieved that the thumb only had what he called “a little fracture” and there was no structural damage in the joint in terms of ligament tears.
“I’ve jammed my thumb before and I knew it wasn’t a jammed thumb this time,” Winn said before the Cardinals’ 13-1 loss to the Orioles on Tuesday night. “I’m just glad it was nothing ligament-wise and it’s just a little fracture. I’ll be back in a few days.”
Winn was hurt on a night when he had a home run and two doubles – the first three extra-base hit game of his career. When he slid into second head-first, his thumb caught on the base and caused the fracture – one that Winn tried playing through. Winn normally wears a sliding glove over his hand when running the bases, but he could put it on in this instance since it was a bated ball.
“When they came out to check on me, I told them I was good (to continue in that game) and I played the next day and felt fine,” said Winn, who went 0 for 4 with a walk the day after suffering the thumb injury. “But the day after that, I didn’t really feel great. Like I said, I’ve jammed my thumb before and at that point I knew it probably wasn’t a jammed thumb, but it’s fine.”
Winn’s injury comes at a time when the Cardinals (66-67) have lost four in a row, tying for their longest losing streak of the season. That skid has dropped them five games back of the final Wild Card slot in the National League’s playoff chase. The Padres (71-62) sit in the final Wild Card spot, while the Diamondbacks (70-63) and the Marlins (67-66) are ahead of the Cards in the standings.
Still, Winn thinks the Cardinals have enough time over the final 29 games of the regular season to make another playoff push.
“I mean, it sucks (to be out now), but, again, I’m just glad (the injury) isn’t worse than what it is,” insisted Winn, who doesn’t even have a cast on the thumb. “I should be back for the (next) road trip, but I’ll have to miss this home stand and it sucks missing games when we need every win we can get.”
Winn had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee last September, and he hoped that would help him make major strides at the plate and on the bases in 2026. However, he has hit just .238 with a .640 OPS this season. He has 19 doubles, five homers and 51 RBI, but he is eventually hoping to get back to where he was in 2024 when he batted .267 with 32 doubles, 15 home runs and 57 RBI.
Winn won the National League’s Gold Glove award in 2025 after committing just three errors in 501 defensive chances. He has rebounded nicely following a sloppy start to the season defensively, and he has committed just eight errors in 513 chances. He’s also been a part of 86 double plays – many of them while teaming up with Cardinals standout rookie JJ Wetherholt, the favorite to win the NL’s Gold Glove at second base this season.
Wetherholt, who started at shortstop for Winn at shortstop on Tuesday night, will handle the bulk of the time at shortstop until Winn returns. Wetherholt has played 122 games at second base and nine at shortstop in 2026. He has just two errors in 491 chances at second base, and he has not committed a miscue in 29 total chances as the Cardinals’ shortstop.
Wetherholt ranks third in MLB in Outs Above Average with 22, trailing only Royals star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (24) and Cubs star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (23). Wetherholt’s 22 OAA are double that of the next closest second baseman – Phillies’ second baseman Luis Arraez (11).
As for Winn, his 15 Outs Above Average rank eighth in MLB and second among NL shortstops, trailing only Dansby Swanson’s 16. Both Swanson (oblique strain) and Winn (fractured left thumb) are on the Injured List. Winn is hoping that he will be able to keep his defensive timing while out to shorten his transition once returning.
“I can do pretty much everything, but swing and that’s why I went on the IL – because we can’t carry a guy who is only going to come in in the eighth or ninth innings to play defense,” Winn said. “That happened the (Thursday) in Cincinnati when I came in (defensively) late and we batted around and I wasn’t supposed to get an at bat. I ended up just not swinging and taking strike three.
“But I feel good physically, and I can do everything with minimal pain except swinging. We’ll pick up the bat in a couple of days and see how it feels then.”
