Masyn Winn has been dealing with knee soreness for weeks. That’s why the 23-year-old shortstop was scratched from the St. Louis Cardinals’ lineup on Tuesday, just minutes before their game against the Seattle Mariners.
Per The Athletic’s Katie Woo, reporters received a revealing update on Winn’s injury issues from manager Oli Marmol following the Cardinals' 5-3 loss. He has a meniscus tear in his right knee that will require arthroscopic surgery in the offseason.
But even though St. Louis is unlikely to make the postseason, Winn won’t hit the injured list, but rather play through his injury instead. Here’s why.
Winn will play through meniscus tear
St. Louis won’t shut Winn down for the season, and the reason is simple—he wants to play, and the medical team believes there’s no risk for further damage to the meniscus. In other words, the team doesn’t think Winn will jeopardize his 2026 season by continuing to play this year.
“Some stuff is probably going to have to be done this offseason to help me out,” Winn said, per Woo. “But I want to finish the year as strong as possible. I hate not playing games … but going forward, if I’m going to play the rest of the year out, maybe taking a day (off) here and there isn’t a bad idea.”
He added, “I was told I probably can’t do too much worse to it, so that’s why I want to be out there. Knock on wood, if I can’t hurt myself any further because of this, then I want to be out there.”
St. Louis’ second-round pick of the 2020 Draft is a key part of its future plans. Winn is slashing .253/.310/.363 this season, but his main impact comes on the defensive end.
He leads MLB with 22 Outs Above Average and is on pace to post the highest single-season fielding percentage by a shortstop in franchise history, per Woo. He’s a leading candidate for the National League Gold Glove award at the position, too.
With second baseman Brendan Donovan and third baseman Nolan Arenado close to returning from the IL, St. Louis will soon receive infield reinforcements. The Cardinals are currently four and a half games out of the last NL Wild Card spot with 16 games left in the regular season.