MILWAUKEE — Five years ago in the NCAA Athens Regional, Allan Winans took the mound as Campbell faced elimination. For six innings, he dealt as he tried to stave off elimination against Duke.
“Just the game of his life, man,” Campbell coach Justin Haire said.
Then lightning struck, which forced an unexpected and unfortunate delay. The teams waited for two hours – a hiatus long enough to force the starting pitchers out of action.
Except someone like Winans. When Haire looked over at the right-hander, he was keeping his arm hot. For those two hours, he stayed ready. He had held Duke to a run over six innings to that point, and he wanted to continue.
“Coach, I’m going back out,” Winans told Haire.
And he did. He gave up a couple of runs, but this story displayed everything that people love about Winans. His attitude. His mentality. His toughness. His confidence.
“That’s just him, man,” Haire said. “He’s like, ‘Coach, I have nothing to lose here. This might be the last time I’m ever on the mound in a competitive game. I’m going for it.’ I think every time he steps on the mound, that’s his mentality: ‘I don’t have anything to lose, I’m playing with house money, I’ve got a college degree and I’m making something out of my life, let’s roll it all out there, man.’
“And because of that, he doesn’t fear failure, man. He’s got that quiet confidence of, ‘Let’s go, man.’ Like a little bit of a riverboat gambler, man. Just feels like, ‘I’m playing with house money.’ And I think that’s how he carries himself.”
When Winans was at Campbell, there were no guarantees he would be drafted. And after the Mets selected him in the 17th round in 2018, he spent his entire career in the minor leagues until the Braves called him up Saturday. He was a minor-league Rule 5 draft pick, which means the Mets once were fine with losing him before the Braves saw something in him. To make ends meet, he works as a substitute teacher in the offseason.
He earned his MLB debut.
Quitting baseball ‘was never a thought’
Winans took a long road to his MLB debut. There were ups and downs.
You might think he has a story of a time – just one – in which he considered retiring.
“No,” Winans says quickly.
“It was never a thought,” he soon adds. “It wasn’t even a possibility.”
See, he loves baseball. Loves it. He never wanted to do anything else.
He wasn’t going to quit.
“I don’t think it was even an option,” Winans said. “I think when you don’t have a Plan B, it puts you a little more focused on Plan A.”
He always knew he would make it. And he was going to do it his way.
Haire and Winans have had conversations in which Haire told the righty that he should train with Campbell in the offseason and add some weight. Haire told Winans that if he wanted to make it to the majors, he needed to find a way to throw 92-94 mph instead of 89-92 mph.
“He’s like, ‘Coach, my stuff is good enough. I’m gonna dominate those dudes this year,’” Haire recalled. “He told me that before spring training this year: ‘I’m gonna dominate. I’m gonna dominate. They can’t hit me.’ He’s just got confidence that he can go out there and out-compete people.”
Winans is not cocky, but he possesses a quiet confidence.
Where does it come from?
“I think it’s preparation,” Winans said. “I think I’ve put a lot of years at this game and trying to become a better athlete, a better pitcher, a better person. And I think when you feel like you put the work in, I think that builds confidence, and I think it comes from that.”
‘Mr W’
Along the way, Winans has proved himself. He could’ve folded when faced with any of the roadblocks that met him, but never flinched.
When he transferred from Bakersfield College, a junior college, to Campbell, he was ruled academically ineligible after his first semester. He soon improved his grades. “I think it taught me how to get my head out of my rear end and just focus on what I got to focus (on), and take care of the things that I was responsible to take care of,” Winans said.
This is part of growing up, and he’s learned from that mistake, as he does with any he makes.
After the Mets drafted Winans, he signed for only $10,000. But this was never about money. He lives and breathes baseball.
He loves it so much that he became an offseason substitute teacher to support his dream while he chased it. At the time, he was giving pitching lessons, but those required a lot of hours on his arm and body. His wife is a high school teacher, and her aunt also works in the school system, so it was a natural fit.
Winans is “Mr. W” to his students at Bakersfield High, his hometown school (but not his alma mater).
“It was a little easier than Why-nans,” Winans said.
He does whatever. Physical education. English. When he got the call that the Braves selected him in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 draft in 2021, he was teaching math. He enjoys substitute teaching.
“It’s a fun thing to do to connect with some of the kids that are in there that kind of maybe aspire to be somewhat successful in life,” Winans said. “Some of those kids are athletes that want to kind of do the athlete thing throughout their life. And if I can give a little bit of advice when it comes to that kind of stuff, then it’s cool with me.”
This has been a long road for Winans, who is 27 years old at the time of his first call-up.
“This was the plan the whole time, to be honest,” Winans said as he stood in the visitors’ clubhouse at American Family Field on a Friday night, as the Braves dispersed to head back to the team hotel.
Winans’ mother always jokes with him about how he does things the long way. Whether it was procrastination in school or with cleaning his room, she says he takes the scenic route.
“I believe everything happens for a reason,” Winans said, “and I’m standing here for a reason.”
‘It’s like no moment is too big for him’
To receive this opportunity, Winans dominated Triple-A for months. His 2.81 ERA leads the International League – by a full run. His 89 strikeouts are fourth. He has allowed zero runs or one run in 10 of his 18 appearances.
He literally forced his way to the major leagues.
“That’s what I told him (Friday): You do well, you get noticed,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “As a pitcher, (if) you get guys out, you get noticed.”
What stood out about Winans?
“Attitude,” said Michael Soroka, who spent time with Winans in Gwinnett. “I think a lot of it is he’s got a little chip on his shoulder out there, and he should. There’s a lot of things he’s overcome in his career. … It’s kind of one of those stories where I think a lot of people didn’t think he’d be here because the (velocity) might not necessarily be eye-popping, but it plays up.”
Winans averages around only 90 mph with his four-seam fastball. But Soroka, who played catch with Winans in Gwinnett, assured that it looks faster than the radar gun’s readings.
Plus, Winans is confident in his other offerings, like his change-up, sinker and slider. If he executes, he said, those offerings are difficult to hit.
Forrest Wall, who is up with the Braves, has seen Winans a lot in Gwinnett. This sticks out: Even if the opponent’s best hitter gets to 2-0 or 3-1, Winans will fire his nasty change-up. “He has confidence in himself and his pitches,” Wall said. Winans believes in his stuff.
“It’s like no moment is too big for him,” Wall said. “He’s steady on the mound.”
‘Stay the course’
It doesn’t matter how many starts Winans makes for the Braves. His debut itself is a testament to his determination and perseverance.
“Every challenge he’s faced, he’s overcome through and because of the game of baseball,” Haire said. “I think he’s one of those dudes that, if given the opportunity, he’d keep doing it until he’s 35 years old because he believes that he’s gonna make it, he’s gonna get a chance, he’s gonna keep doing it, he’s gonna keep overcoming because that’s all he’s ever known kind of his whole life.
“He’s never come to me and said, ‘You know what, I think this might be it for me, man, I think this might be my last year.’ It’s like, ‘Nah man, I’m going for it, I’m gonna make it. This is gonna be the year that I’m gonna make it.’”
For Winans, quitting was never an option.
“Stay the course, man,” he said of his advice to others in his spot. “I think everything happens for a reason. I think God has a plan, to be quite honest. And I’m very blessed to be in the position I’m in. The only way you get lucky is to keep trying, so I don’t think luck happens by accident. I think if you put yourself in good positions constantly, then those people get lucky.”
