St. Louis Cardinals Call Up Top Prospect Masyn Winn, Send Lars Nootbaar to Injured List

To make room for No. 1 prospect Masyn Winn, who will make his MLB debut this weekend, the Cardinals put Lars Nootbaar on the IL with an abdomen contusion.

The St. Louis Cardinals have called up top prospect Masyn Winn to make his MLB debut this weekend, the team announced late Thursday night. The middle infielder will don the No. 10 on his jersey, which has not been worn by a Cardinals player since 1995.

Manager Tony La Russa wore No. 10 from 1996 to 2011, and it was retired upon his departure in 2012.

It appears as if La Russa's jersey retirement was purely ceremonial, as the No. 1 prospect in St. Louis' farm system and No. 32 prospect in all of baseball is set to bring it back to Busch Stadium 11 years later.

To make room for Winn on the active roster, the Cardinals placed outfielder Lars Nootbaar on the 10-day injured list with a lower abdomen contusion. Nootbaar left Wednesday's game against the Oakland Athletics after getting hit below the belt by his own foul ball.

Winn is primarily a shortstop, but he has experience at second base as well. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound prospect has a perfect 80 scouting grade on his arm, according to MLB Pipeline, suggesting he will fit in at shortstop at the major league level.

As for his other tools, Winn has earned grades of 60 fielding, 60 run, 55 hit and 45 power.

Winn spent spring training with the Cardinals earlier this year, hitting .333 with two home runs, nine RBI, two doubles, two triples, four stolen bases and a .949 OPS in 18 games.

The 21-year-old Winn has since spent the entire 2023 season with Triple-A Memphis, batting .288 with an .834 OPS. Across 322 career minor league games, Winn has 35 home runs, 70 doubles, 168 RBI and 92 stolen bases.

Winn recorded three hits and crushed a 412-foot homer for the Redbirds on Thursday night, and he earned his call-up mere hours later.

“He’s one of the most exciting players I’ve seen in a while and I am thrilled that he is coming up and we’ll get a chance to see it up here," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told the media Thursday. "This is an electric player.”

The last-place Cardinals opened up a four-game series against the New York Mets on Thursday, losing 4-2. Winn will join the team in time for game two on Friday, which is scheduled to get underway at 8:15 p.m. ET in St. Louis.

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