Jesse Winker spent part of the offseason working with Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame shortstop on his defense. Mark Sheldon has an excellent story over at Reds.com about the offseason work that Winker put in down in Orlando with Francisco Lindor, Carlos Gonzalez and Dee Gordon.
When he was drafted, Jesse Winker was well known for his bat, but he was considered a below-average fielder in left with a below-average arm. That reputation has followed him around since that day, even if it’s not nearly as true as it used to be. Over the last several years the now 23-year-old has put in work on his defense and you can see just how much he’s improved if you saw him when he was still a teenager. He gets better reads and takes better routes. His arm is better.
While the arm isn’t exactly ideal for right field, it’s strong enough at this point that you could probably give him a shot in right field. A few years ago you wouldn’t have thought about it. Winker acknowledges that there’s still some work to be done with his defense.
Other news and notes
Tom Nichols wrote up the Dayton Dragons preview for second base. He profiles Brantley Bell, Shane Mardirosian, Alejo Lopez and Ty Blankmeyer in the piece. He expects that Brantley Bell is the likely starter for the Dragons to begin 2017. Bell would be returning to Dayton for his second year. He got out to a very poor start in 2016, but rebounded well. From July through the end of the year he hit .275/.359/.365, showing big improvements in his walk rate and a small improvement in strikeout rate.
Sebastian Elizalde had a big night in the World Baseball Classic on Thursday night. He got the start in right field for Team Mexico against Italy. In the 4th inning he singled in a run to put Mexico up 4-1. They would need it, too. The Italian squad would tie things up in the bottom of the inning with two homers. Holding a 7-5 lead in the 7th inning, Elizalde came up with the bases loaded. The left handed hitter came through again. He laced a single into center and brought in two more runs to give Mexico a 9-5 lead. Unfortunately the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead. Italy scored five runs without recording an out in the bottom of the 9th inning to pull of an incredible comeback.