ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals placed shortstop Masyn Winn on the 10-day injured list Saturday and activated infielder Nolan Gorman.
Winn left the Cardinals’ 2-0 win against Philadelphia on Friday night with back spasms, and the team decided to take a safer approach to keep Winn healthy long term.
“He can bank on it being within a window of four to six days,” manager Oli Marmol said. “Historically he’s been able to do stuff in that range, for sure. It’s just a matter of if you’re going to be on the front end of that or the back end of that, and then are you limited in what you’re doing pregame in order to feel good enough to play in a game during that window.
“That’s where, for this early in the season, it doesn’t make sense to push to do that.”
Winn also missed time last season and during spring training with stiffness in his back.
“This is a guy, ultra competitor, wants to be out there, but he also understands the time of year it is and how he felt while he was monitoring it last year, and we feel better about the route we’re taking,” Marmol said.
In putting Winn on the injured list, Marmol also wanted to ensure the Cardinals had the ability to make moves during a game if needed.
When Winn left in the first inning Friday night, backup catcher Yohel Pozo entered at second base while rookie Thomas Saggese took over Winn’s spot at shortstop.
Saggese was in the lineup at shortstop Saturday, with Brendan Donovan at second base and Gorman available off the bench.
Gorman had been out since early April with a right hamstring strain and will return without a minor-league rehab assignment. But Marmol said St. Louis wasn’t rushing Gorman back because of Winn’s situation.
“He’s happy that we’re not stringing this along and making him go down and get at-bats,” Marmol said. “He’s pushing for the opposite.”
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