Central STL News

Masyn Winn, shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, will miss the remainder of the 2025 season due to a right knee injury that has not improved despite attempts to play through pain in recent weeks. The team announced on Friday that Winn would be sidelined for the final 14 games and is set to undergo offseason surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

Winn’s defensive performance this year drew significant attention. He currently shares the lead in Major League Baseball’s Outs Above Average metric with Bobby Witt Jr. and is considered a favorite for the National League Platinum Glove award. In his second full MLB season, Winn committed only three errors in 501 chances over 129 games at shortstop, matching single-season records held by Cal Ripken (1990) and Omar Vizquel (2000) for fewest errors at the position.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said that shutting down Winn was an emotional decision but necessary given his condition: “It was somewhat emotional because he wanted to get back [to St. Louis] and play there, but at this point we’re going to make the call to call it a year,” Marmol explained following a pregame meeting with president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and Winn. “He’s always going to want to go -- that’s just the way he’s wired and why I love him. But it makes the most sense to go ahead and shut him down.”

If awarded a Gold Glove this season, Winn would become only the eighth player at his position to win while playing fewer than 1,110 innings—a distinction previously achieved by Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith and Alan Trammell.

“There is no timetable as to when Winn will undergo surgery,” Marmol noted, adding: “He’s the best shortstop in the game.”

With Winn out, rookie Thomas Saggese will assume starting duties at shortstop for St. Louis. Saggese praised his teammate’s resilience: “It’s been very impressive to see him go out and make every play and the consistency with his abilities... you almost forget that he’s doing all of this on a bum knee, which makes it even more impressive.” Saggese himself has committed just one error in 117 innings played at shortstop this year.

Pitcher Andre Pallante also commented on losing Winn: “He’s been so amazing defensively at shortstop and it’s going to hurt to lose him for the rest of the season. It definitely hurts not having someone so good at shortstop.”

Offensively, Winn recorded a .253 batting average with nine home runs, 27 doubles, and 51 RBIs across 129 games. Although he did not reach his preseason goal of stealing 30 bases, manager Marmol emphasized improvements in his offensive approach throughout the year: “He’s a stud, man, and to do it the last couple of months feeling the way that he did, that was pretty fun to watch... The amount of focus and attention to detail that it takes to pull that off is incredible.”

The Cardinals are expected to provide further updates regarding surgery timing as information becomes available.