The many ways Jesse Winker will help the Mets

One of the trades that the Mets made before the Trading Deadline was acquiring Jesse Winker from the Washington Nationals this past Saturday night.

Just like the other Mets trades, Winker may not be a splashy name that’ll make fans talk World Series contention. But this is a good, underrated acquisition that will benefit the Mets offensively.

Winker was a former All-Star back in 2021. He may not be that same All-Star player that he was back then, due to various injuries he suffered since then. But when healthy, Winker proved that he is still serviceable as he showed with the Nats this year.

Just like his role with the Nats, Winker probably won’ be playing every day with the Mets, mainly starting vs righty starting pitchers. But when he plays, he can help the team in many ways.

Hitting

Winker provides a solid, disciplined bat. The Mets lineup is usually righty-heavy, so Winker will present a solid, much-needed left-handed bat vs right-handed pitching. This season, Winker is batting .259 so far. But he did bat .305 in his All-Star season in 2021. He also hit 24 home runs in that same year. So he can provide some power. So far this season, Winker has hit 11 home runs in limited duty.

Along with adding some pop, Winker is a disciplined, patient hitter, who will take his walks and not swing at many bad pitches out of the strike zone. Winker has a .374 on-base percentage and has 54 walks in 104 games played this season. His career high in walks was 84 with the Seattle Mariners in 2022, when he played a career high 136 games that year. He barely struck out over 100 times in that 2022 season with 103.

So, Winker has a good eye at the plate, and will usually provide good at-bats by being selective with pitches. And on two strike counts, Winker will tend to foul off pitches, to keep his at-bats alive and make the opposing pitchers work and increase their pitch counts. Those kinds of hitters are always beneficial to a team and their lineup. Winker is similar to Brandon Nimmo as a hitter in that he’s selective and works the count

Finally, Winker has also been a good clutch hitter as well, as evidenced by his .318 average with runners in scoring position this year.

Versatility

Winker will provide versatile help in different ways. First, in various positions. Winker has mainly been a corner outfielder in his major league career. He is mostly a left fielder and has played most of his games there. With Starling Marte still out with an injury, Winker will figure to get many starts early in one of the corner outfield positions.

Even though he hasn’t suited up at first base so far this season, Winker has played some first base in the past. So he can fill in at first base if needed or if Pete Alonso needs a day off.

Winker has also batted in the DH role at times this season, and so he can bat in that spot and give J.D. Martinez some days off, so J.D. won’t be overworked due to his age.

Also, Winker can bat pretty much anywhere in the lineup. He has had at least one at-bat from all 9 spots this year. Winker has started two games as a Met, both in the No. 5 spot behind Alonso. But Carlos Mendoza has the flexibility to bat Winker in many spots, particularly from the No 2 to the No 6 spot, where Winker has batted most of this season.

Motivation

Mets fans were familiar with Winker before he was brought to Queens a few days ago. He has had a playful history with them over the last few years. It started back in 2019 when he played for the Cincinnati Reds. In the first game of a 4-game series at Citi Field, Winker hit the go-ahead solo home run off closer Edwin Diaz in the ninth inning of a tie game. Then in the bottom of that ninth inning, Winker made the game ending sliding catch, to preserve the Reds win. After his catch, Winker waved at the fans, as he was leaving the field. A couple of days later, after another Reds victory, Winker once again waved at the Mets faithful, as he left the field.

Then in May 2022, when his Mariners played the Mets at Citi, Winker hit a game-tying 3-run homer in the second game of that 3-game series, and then promptly waved at the fans, as he was crossing home plate. Winker was constantly booed in those 3 games, whenever he came up to bat, because of his seemingly annoying waving gestures at the fans in 2019. However after that second game, Winker in his postgame interview, complemented the Mets fan, saying how much he admired the passion they showed, especially him being from Buffalo, New York. Some fans took him at a different light after those remarks of his.

Winker overall has had success when playing the Mets, and had some big moments, including the ones mentioned above. He also hit a go-ahead solo homer in the eighth inning on Independence Day, to lift the Nats to a 1-0 lead over the Mets. So his success against the Mets, his complementary remarks about Mets fans, as well as him growing up in the New York area, seemed to make many think that he would cherish an opportunity to play for the Mets one day and be excited too.

And sure enough, after Winker was traded to the Mets, he couldn’t hide his excitement in his pregame interview of his first game as a Met this past Sunday. Once again, he spoke highly of the fans and was looking forward to playing in front of them.

Winker is also close friends with Pete Alonso and a few other Mets teammates, thus improving the camaraderie in the clubhouse even more.

Final Thoughts

So, what Winker could bring as a player, along with the actual love and admiration he has for the Mets fans, will benefit and help the team. He alone may not make the Mets instant contenders, but he will be an upgrade over DJ Stewart at DH and in the outfield, and will only make the Mets offense better.