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You see, has an uncanny ability to hit line drives to the opposite field or up the middle. He did it last season. He’s done it this season. Nothing in baseball is automatic, but that has felt like a staple when Winn’s swinging the bat well.

As Winn settled into the starting job as a rookie last season, he also showed he could punish opposing pitchers for thinking his tendency to hit baseballs the other way meant that they could sneak pitches past him on the inner half of the plate.

Winn mashed 15 home runs last season, all on pitches over the middle or inside. He also hammers pitches in the lower part of the zone, typically an area pitchers go to avoid “damage.�

Winn, 23, packs explosive athleticism into a 5-foot-10, 185-pound frame, but it raises a question.

As he continues to round into the hitter he’ll ultimately be in the big leagues, will Winn battle the urge to stop hitting opposite-field line drives in favor of taking big swings and trying to pull the ball in pursuit of home runs and extra-base hits?

“It’s not a battle, it’s a fricking superpower,� Marmol said. “Think about it. If someone has the ability to pick and choose when they can use the right side of the field or go pull-side, it’s a strength — once you understand that both of those things are a strength.�

Little did I realize that using the term “battle� was like putting the key in the ignition of a car and turning it.

Marmol cited Winn’s two-strike prowess and his ability to put the ball in play (lower strikeout rate than about three-quarters of MLB players since the start of 2024).

By keeping the bat in the strike zone for a longer period, it makes hitters like Winn dangerous and very difficult for opposing pitchers to handle. If he’s able to hit the ball everywhere, a pitcher can’t simply approach him like a power hitter and focus on avoiding mistakes.

“He’s a tough, tough out,� Marmol continued. “Then when he’s ahead in the count, his ability to get the head out and pick his spots — whether that’s sitting on a pitch or just getting the head out on a fastball and going pull-side and hitting and doubles and homers — he did that at a high rate. He hit 15 homers.

“So it’s not a battle, in my opinion, as much as gaining an understanding of your entire game. There’s different clubs for different situations, and his ability to know when to pull those clubs out is incredible. He has that ability. Not everybody in that clubhouse has that ability. That’s what makes him — you can dream on what’s possible for him. It’s that skillset that’s super-intriguing.�

Somewhere in the middle of Marmol’s response and rejection of the term “battle,� it clicked.

I suspect that either Marmol or members of the coaching staff have likely delivered some version of a similar sermon to Winn, stressing his unique talent of being able to pull out “different clubs for different situations.�

Part of the reason I suspect that has to do with Winn’s own words.

“I’m trying to pull the baseball,� Winn said during the final homestand before the MLB All-Star break. “When I go oppo, for the most part, I’m just late. … Early in the count, I’m trying to pull the ball. You know. If I get a knock the opposite way, it’s great.�

Even going back to last season, Winn has talked about wanting to get off his “A-swing� in order to do a bit more damage and provide more offense for the Cardinals lineup in the form of extra-base hits as opposed to piling up singles.

It’s also natural that he’d want to continue to expand his individual game, both as a competitor and as a young player who knows in the back of his mind that power numbers play into how he’ll be judged in salary arbitration as well as the .

However, Winn referenced small adjustments at the plate following a three-hit game that included two doubles against the Miami Marlins on Monday at Busch Stadium.

“Really just using the big part of the field and I think it’s opening up both sides,� Winn said.

That’s not just talk or echoing things coaches may be telling him behind the scenes. He’s putting that approach into practice.

Of the four batted balls Winn put in play that night, one was straightaway and three others (including both doubles) went to his pull side (left field).

In his first 50 plate appearances coming out of the All-Star break (through play on Friday night), Winn struck out just five times, was hit by a pitch once and laid down one sacrifice bunt.

Of the remaining 43 plate appearances (he did not have a walk), Winn put 15 balls in play to the opposite field, 15 up the middle and 13 to the pull side.

During that 13-game stretch and the same size of 50 plate appearances, Winn has batted .375 with a .388 on-base percentage and a .458 slugging percentage with four doubles.

Hmmm. Different clubs for different situations.

“He has the ability to beat you a lot of different ways,� Marmol said. “The better he gets at understanding that, the better player we’re going to see. He doesn’t have to chose between just a guy who hits balls in the 4-hole or a guy that hits homers. Do all of it.�