Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jesse Winker was an All-Star in 2021 with the Cincinnati Reds, but he hit a slump last season with the Seattle Mariners. (Photo by Robert Crompton/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – A sense of familiarity.
That’s how Brewers outfielder Jesse Winker described being back in the National League Central division again after being a member of the Cincinnati Reds for five years.
However, Winker’s career took a detour before his move to Milwaukee. The outfielder was acquired last March from Cincinnati by the Seattle Mariners but never really adjusted to playing in T-Mobile Park, a pitcher-friendly ballpark.
Winker, a career .285 batter with Cincinnati, maintained a .219 batting average with Seattle throughout the 2022 season but never felt entirely right as he battled through two injuries.
Winker, who battled through a bulged disc and knee problems throughout his career, was placed on the injured list due to a neck injury at the end of the regular season. While he missed the Mariners’ first playoff run since 2001, his top priority was getting healthy for the upcoming season.
“I have had two surgeries. It’s just like another step in this process. It’s been great. It’s been refreshing to be healthy,” Winker said last week. “I had weakness, I had tingles down both of my arms, a lot of pain. Just a bunch of different stuff that kind of had to do with last year. On top of that, I had a little knee cleanup as well, but I feel like I’m in a good spot.”
Brewers manager Craig Counsell said before practice last week that, at the moment, the team is focused on health-related improvements with Winker and doesn’t know what his role will be with the team entering this season.
“He’s been a thorn in this division’s side for the last four years so just putting a foundation of health under him, that’s what he’s been good at right now and we’re at a really good place with his health,” Counsell said.
Brewers general manager Matt Arnold said that early reports on Winker are positive, with the outfielder joining the team in Arizona for over a month and working on being ready in time for opening day.
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jesse Winker is focused on making a healthy return on opening day after his season was cut short in Seattle due to injury. (Photo by Robert Crompton/Cronkite News)
An All-Star in 2021, Winker could become a candidate poised for the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year Award if he finds a way to the field, starting in spring training at his “second home.”
“How I think of it is, it was five years when I was with Cincinnati,” Winker said. “We played the Brewers all the time, because it wasn’t competing against one another. We started to get to know the guys for sure. I’m very excited to be here and I’m excited for this year.”
Winker, who has a career .344 batting average and 1.032 OPS at American Family Field, will be seen as a power hitter this upcoming season, either at designated hitter or in an outfield role.
Winker has dominated NL Central teams, maintaining a career .307 batting average, 40 home runs and 102 RBI. However, for any player coming off an off year – Winker had a career-high 103 strikeouts last season – they feel as though they have something to prove.
Back in the NL Central, Winker has a chance to silence the doubters and change those perceptions of him that might’ve flipped due to his poor performance in Seattle.
“I think our job as athletes is we always have something to prove,” Winker said. “So how the season goes prior, I’d like to come back thinking there’s always something more I can deliver, something more I can prove. So I feel like you could ask me that now, or five years from now.”
With the 2023 season right around the corner, the goal is to be ready for opening day. However, Winker’s Cactus League debut may have to wait a bit longer until the Brewers’ medical staff clears him to play.
For now, he’s focused on returning to his 2021 form while thrashing NL Central opponents once again.
“(My goal is to) just help any way that I can and obviously the same (goal) as everybody else, to win a World Series,” Winker said.
