Dan Winkler is quietly becoming one of the best parts of this surprising Braves season.
And not just because he’s a feel-good story about an affable guy who made it back from two major elbow surgeries. Winkler hasn’t just made it back, the former Rule 5 Draft pick has been one of the most effective relievers in the National League during the first six weeks of the season.
Winkler has a 1.02 ERA and .119 opponents’ average in 19 appearances, allowing just seven hits, two earned runs and five walks with 25 strikeouts in 17-2/3 innings. He struck out two in a perfect eighth inning Sunday in a 4-3 win at Miami.
“That’s the thing, I’m fully healthy,” said Winkler, 28, still classified as a rookie after missing big chunks of the past four seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery and then a broken elbow that many thought could be career-ending.
“I believe in my abilities and I’m just trying to keep the game simple right now, just attack the zone. When I make it easy and simple, just take things pitch by pitch, the confidence is there.”
Winkler gave up two runs in 1-2/3 innings of the April 14 game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in rainy, windy conditions with a “feels like” temperature below freezing. In 12 appearances since then he’s allowed two hits and two walks with 14 strikeouts in 9-2/3 scoreless innings including eight strikeouts and no walks in his past seven games.
“I think it’s absolutely fantastic to see,” said veteran reliever Peter Moylan, who knows something about repeated rehabs, having returned from two Tommy John surgeries and other assorted procedures throughout his career. “We’re seeing the potential that he’s had for years and he’s got himself to the point where he knows what he needs to do to be healthy and to get on the field every day.
“We’re seeing the benefits of a healthy Winkler right now. It’s amazing.”
Braves reliever A.J. Minter said, “It’s just super awesome to see, because me getting to rehab down in Orlando a lot with him, to see what he’s gone through, you can only feel for him when he hurt his arm for the second time. It’s just awesome to see him go out, just to see what he’s doing. He’s just kind of put the bullpen on his back lately.”
And, Moylan said, “He doesn’t even throw his change-up; I play catch with him every day and I think that’s his nastiest pitch. He’s getting away with throwing three pitches and he’s punching everyone out, which is fantastic.”
Three pitches is more than most relievers use, but Winkler was a starter in the Rockies organization and has kept his full repertoire as a reliever, which makes him that much tougher for hitters who can’t just wait for his usually well-located fastballs.
“(Moylan) always tell me that, but I threw (a change-up) last night and I hung it,” Winkler said Sunday morning, laughing after being told what his pal said. “It’s pretty good, it’s a pitch that I’m still developing, a pitch that I found right before I got hurt basically, so it’s something that I’m still tweaking. I haven’t had many reps with it, so it’s just coming along. ...
“I still have my full starter’s repertoire. But really it’s just fastball and cutter, slider every now and then. I’ll throw in a change-up every now and then, too. But I don’t have a Shane Carle change-up.”
Carle has been the other most-effective and pleasantly surprising member of the Braves’ steadily improving bullpen, Carle posting a 0.81 ERA and 0.99 WHIP (walks-plus-hits per inning) in 17 appearances with 18 strikeouts and six walks in 22-1/3 innings.
Carle and Winkler ranked seventh and 10th in the National League in lowest ERA among qualified relievers before Sunday, and the Braves bullpen had trimmed its ERA to 3.50 (sixth in the NL) and its opponents’ batting average to .216 (fourth in the NL) while allowing eight homers, second-fewest in the league.
Arodys Vizcaino gave up the ninth homer against the bullpen in the ninth inning Sunday, a two-run shot by Justin Bour.
“I think we’re all bouncing off each other,” Winkler said of the relievers’ feeding off each other’s success. “We believe in this pen and that’s the only thing matters. We all believe in ourselves and we believe we can help this team win ballgames.
“We’ve got a lot of talent out there, but I think I read the other day that it’s (only) a $6 million pen (in terms of total salaries). So you’ve got to have a lot of confidence – nobody’s expecting you to do well, but we are. It’s just a lot of fun.”
