Ozzie Smith, one of the greatest defensive shortstops of all time, complimented the third-year shortstop after the latter won his first career Gold Glove
The St. Louis Cardinals are in a down period for the franchise.
The Cardinals finished the year with a 78-84 record and missed out on the postseason for the third consecutive season.
St. Louis is in the middle of a rebuild, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any good to take away from this past season.
Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn won his first career Gold Glove award after making his debut in 2023. Winn's Gold Glove award was the 100th time in franchise history a St. Louis player has won a Gold Glove award.
That many Gold Glove awards is more than any other team in MLB history.
The player responsible for more than 10% of those Gold Glove awards, Ozzie Smith, shared a message to Winn via a post by the Cardinals' official account on "X."
"Hi there, Masyn. It's the Wizard calling to congratulate you on winning your first Gold Glove. Hopefully it's one of many to come."
Winn played 129 games this season totaling 2,711 innings, all at shortstop. He had a .981 fielding percentage and had 24 errors in 1,259 total chances. He had 21 outs above average, which ranked in the 100th percentile of baseball, according to Baseball Savant.
Smith had a 19-year career from 1978-96. He spent 15 of those seasons with St. Louis from 1982-96 and helped lead the club to a World Series title in '82 and won the National League MVP in '85. He was a 15-time All-Star, 14 of which came with the Cardinals. He won 13 Gold Glove awards in his career, 11 of which with St. Louis. His 13 career Gold Glove awards are the most by a shortstop in MLB history.
Smith's No. 1 was retired by the Cardinals and he was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002 with 91.7% of the vote in his first year on the ballot.
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