Kyle Winkler

Kyle Michael Winkler

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 195 lb.
• School Texas Christian University
• High School Kempner High School

• Born June 18, 1990 in Sugar Land, TX USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Kyle Winkler is a pitcher who began his professional career in 2012.

He was drafted twice, first out of high school in the 37th round of the 2008 amateur draft by the Milwaukee Brewers, and again in the 10th round of the 2011 amateur draft, by the Arizona Diamondbacks, after completing his junior year at Texas Christian University. He had appeared for Team USA when they finished second in the 2010 World University Championship. The scout was Kyle Denney.

He spent his first three seasons in the Diamondbacks organization, starting off with the Visalia Rawhide of the California League in 2012, when he was 3-1, 5.44 in 31 games as a reliever. In 2013, he made 19 starts among his 31 appearances, split between the South Bend Silver Hawks and Visalia. His record was 4-9, 5.43 with 110 strikeouts in 116 innings. His ERA was a decent 3.99 in the Midwest League, but a bloated 7.63 over in Visalia. In 2014, he began the season at Visalia, once again a full-time reliever, and put up an ERA of 3.53 in 23 games. On June 22nd, he was promoted to the Mobile BayBears of the AAA Southern League, where he was 3-1, 4.34 in 20 outings. Between the two stops, he went 4-4, 3.90, pitching 64 2/3 innings and striking out 72.

Unimpressed with Winkler's results, the Diamondbacks released him on April 2, 2015. Six weeks later, he landed a job as a free agent in the Tampa Bay Rays organization and was assigned to the Montgomery Biscuits of the Southern League. After 7 dominant outings, in which he gave up just one run in 9 1/3 innings while striking out 13 with no walks, he earned a promotion to the AAA Durham Bulls on June 12th. On June 25th, he was traded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim straight up for major league OF/1B Marc Krauss, a rather nice development for a player who received his unconditional release barely 10 weeks earlier.

Winkler was a student assistant at Texas Christian University in 2019. He was a volunteer assistant at University of Houston in 2020 and pitching coach at University of the Incarnate Word in 2021-2022. He returned to TCU as a volunteer assistant in 2023 and then moved to United States Air Force Academy in 2024.

Related Sites

TCU bio