The St. Louis Cardinals placed shortstop Masyn Winn on the injured list on Saturday after he exited Friday’s contest with back spasms. In a corresponding move, the Cardinals activated infielder Nolan Gorman from the IL. Gorman had been sidelined since April 1 with a strained hamstring.
Winn, 23, departed Friday’s contest against the Philadelphia Phillies in the second inning. His exit forced the Cardinals to get creative with their defensive alignment. Normal second baseman Brendan Donovan was in the lineup as the designated hitter. The Cardinals did not want to immediately sacrifice the DH slot, so they instead slid Thomas Saggese (who received the nod at the keystone) to short and backfilled the open slot with catcher Pedro Pagés at second base — despite Pagés having no experience at the keystone of which to speak.
Later in the game, the Cardinals would give up the DH spot to move Donovan to a defensive position. They would then secure a 2-0 victory on the night.
In Winn’s first 13 games, he hit .222/.314/.289 (75 OPS+) with a home run. Those marks are well beneath the ones he posted last season (.267/.314/.416). He had hoped that he would be able to return to action without an IL stint.
“It will probably cost me a couple of days, which is fine, but I’ve already told them I’m not going on the IL,” he told MLB after Friday’s game. “It was similar [to the spasms of 2024]. Last year was actually a little bit worse. I’ve just got to get through this one after the muscles spasmed up. They gave me some stuff for tonight and I’m going to see how it feels [Saturday]. I’m probably out for [Saturday], but hopefully it feels better in a couple of days.”
Gorman, 24, went 4 for 8 in two games before requiring deactivation. He’ll resume his attempt to improve upon last season, when he posted a disappointing 86 OPS+ in 107 games. In three-plus big-league seasons, Gorman has hit .224/.303/.440 (104 OPS+) with 61 home runs and 3.7 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference.
The Cardinals are expected to use Donovan and Saggese at shortstop during Winn’s absence, with Gorman seeing action at second base.
St. Louis will enter Saturday’s contest with a 6-7 record on the young season.