(Jacob Resnick/Mets Minors)
When the Mets drafted Matt Winaker in the fifth round of last year’s draft, they were getting a player who as finally coming into his own after finally deciding to focus solely on baseball when he had enrolled at Stanford University.
In his first two years at Stanford, Winaker slugged just .370. However, in his Junior season, he began to show flashes of real power potential hitting nine homers and slugging .514. Winaker was able to combine that power with excellent strike zone awareness. In fact, in all three of his collegiate seasons, Winkaer walked more than he struck out.
Given his plate discipline and burgeoning power, the Mets would draft him in the fifth round of last year’s draft. In his time in the Mets organization, Winaker has followed a similar path than he did at Stanford.
In 21 games with Brooklyn last year, Winaker would walk 15 times and strike out just 11 times. However, he would only have one extra base hit, a double, in 87 plate appearances. That equated to a very low .282 slugging percentage.
In the first half of the season, Winaker slugged just .366. On the positive side, he had a 13.9 percent walk rate and a .365 OBP. In the second half of the season, Winaker has actually improved his OBP, but more importantly, he has begun hitting for power.
Initially, the power surge began in July with 12 extra base hits and three homers. He’s taken in to another level in August with him already matching his 12 extra base hits from the previous month with half of those hits being home runs.
In 51 second half games, Winaker is hitting .271/.382/.531 with 13 doubles, three triples, nine homers, and 21 RBI.
With this power hitting display, he’s now in the Top 10 in the South Atlantic League in OPS. Much of this is related to the recent power surge as he is already the league leader in walks drawn. Correspondingly, he is also fifth in the league in OBP.
Over this stretch, Winker is adding power with his on base skills. This is exactly what he did at Stanford, and it is a reason why the Mets drafted him in the fifth round last year. If he is able to maintain his level of production, Winaker will suddenly find himself as one of the top outfield prospects in the Mets farm system.
