Cole Winn

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Cole Robert Winn

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Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Cole Winn was selected in the first round of the 2018 amateur draft by the Texas Rangers out of a high school in California with the 15th overall pick. He had moved to the state from his native Colorado a year before the draft in order to improve his draft prospect, a strategy which evidently worked. He had been the Colorado Gatorade High School Player of the year in 2017, and won the same honor in California - against much tougher competition - in 2018, putting up an ERA of 0.20 in his senior year. He won the Baseball America High School Player of the Year Award. He had a commitment to Texas Christian University, but dropped it in order to sign with the Rangers. His signing bonus was $3.7 million.

He only started his professional career the following year, 2019, playing for the Hickory Crawdads of the South Atlantic League. In 18 starts, he went 4-4, 4.46, logging just 68 2/3 innings and striking out 65 batters. He was forced into inactivity by the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, but was with the Rangers in spring training in 2021. In his lone appearance, he was hit hard, giving up 4 runs on 4 hits and a walk in just a third of an inning. He was assigned to the Frisco Rough Riders of the Double-A Central to start the season and went 3-3, 2.31 in 19 starts, earning the assignment to start for the American League in the 2021 Futures Game on July 11th at Coors Field. He was promoted to the Round Rock Express of Triple-A West late in the season, making 2 starts there. Overall, He went 4-3, 2.41 in 21 games, all starts, logging 86 innings and striking out 107 opponents.

At that point, it looked like his major league debut would be imminent, but his career then went sideways for a spell. In 2022, he spent a full season in the Pacific Coast League with Round Rock, the circuit having re-claimed its historic name, but he was just 9-8, 6.51 in 28 starts, as he allowed 125 hits and 87 walks in 121 2/3 innings. In 2023, his ERA climbed up to 7.22 as he was moved to the bullpen halfway through the season. In 29 games, he made 13 starts, pitched 101 innings, and allowed 114 hits and 79 walks. In both 2022 and 2023, his strikeout rate was decent, just over one per inning the first year and just below one the second, but he allowed so many baserunners that it wasn't enough to succeed. The first sign that he could turn things back around came in the 2023-24 Puerto Rican League, when he was 2-0, 2.63 in 7 games as a starter for the Criollos de Caguas.

In 2024, he started the season back at Round Rock again, making his first four outings out of the bullpen. While his ERA was 5.68 in 6 1/3 innings, at least his command was good as he struck out 9 and walked only 1 during that stretch. On April 14th, he was called up to Texas when Cody Bradford went on the injured list and he made his debut the same day, pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief in an 8-5 loss to the Houston Astros. He did not allow a hit or a walk, and struck out one batter. Coming in with one out and the bases loaded in the 7th, he got Victor Caratini to ground out before striking out José Abreu and retiring the Astros in order in the 8th.

Further Reading[edit]

  • T.R. Sullivan and Wesley Dotson: "Rangers host 2018 first-round pick Winn: Righty pitcher expected to sign with Texas this week", mlb.com, June 10, 2018. [1]
  • Tim Whelan Jr.: "MLB Draft: Cole Winn goes from Colo., to Calif., to first-round pick", USA Today High School Sports, June 4, 2018. [2]

Related Sites[edit]

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