Allan Lee Winans (born August 10, 1995) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Career

Amateur career

Winans graduated from Frontier High School in his hometown of

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

in 2013, then played college baseball at Bakersfield College for the Renegades before transferring to Campbell University and playing for the Fighting Camels baseball team.

New York Mets

The New York Mets selected Winans in the 17th round, with the 500th overall selection of the

2018 Major League Baseball draft The 2018 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 4, 2018. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was determined based on the reverse order of the 2017 MLB season final standings. In a ...

. He spent his first professional season with the rookie–level Kingsport Mets, appearing in 11 games and posting a 4.66 ERA with 15 strikeouts in innings of work. He spent 2019 with the Single–A Columbia Fireflies, pitching in 30 contests and recording a 2.74 ERA with 40 strikeouts and 11 saves in innings pitched. Winans did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He returned to action in 2021 and split the season between the High–A

Brooklyn Cyclones The Brooklyn Cyclones are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and play at Maimonides Park, just off the Coney Island Boar ...

and Double–A

Binghamton Rumble Ponies The Binghamton Rumble Ponies are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Binghamton, New York. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets major-league club. The Rumble Ponies play in Mira ...

. In 26 total appearances out of the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

, Winans accumulated a 1.72 ERA with 45 strikeouts and 3 saves in 47.0 innings of work.

Atlanta Braves

On December 8, 2021, Winans was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. He dealt with injuries in 2022, and made 14 appearances for the rookie–level Florida Complex League Braves, Double–A Mississippi Braves, and Triple–A Gwinnett Stripers. In innings, he went 1–5 with a 3.08 ERA and 65 strikeouts. Winans returned to Triple–A Gwinnett for the 2023 season, where he made 18 appearances (13 starts) and logged a 7–3 record and 2.81 ERA with 89 strikeouts in innings pitched prior to his promotion. On July 22, 2023, Winans was formally selected to the Braves'

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

and promoted to the major leagues for the first time. He made his debut later that day against the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

. In his debut, Winans yielded two earned runs on five hits in 4¹⁄₃ innings. After the game, he was optioned to Triple–A Gwinnett. Winans earned his first major league win on August 12, pitching seven scoreless innings in 21–3 victory against the New York Mets. He made 6 starts for Atlanta in his rookie campaign, registering a 1–2 record and 5.29 ERA with 34 strikeouts across innings pitched. Winans was optioned to Triple–A Gwinnett to begin the 2024 season. On April 7, 2024, Winans was called up to the Braves' roster to replace

Spencer Strider Spencer Robert Strider (born October 28, 1998) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball for the Clemson Tigers baseball, Clemson Tigers, and was drafted by the A ...

, who had suffered a UCL injury. Following a poor performance against the Mets, Winans was optioned to Triple–A on April 11.

Personal life

Before his promotion to the major leagues, Winans was a pitching instructor. To reduce physical strain, he later became a substitute teacher at

Bakersfield High School Bakersfield High School (BHS) is a public four-year high school located in Bakersfield, California, United States. Opened in 1893, Bakersfield High School serves grades ninth through twelfth within the Kern High School District. Notable alumni * ...

, as his wife and her aunt were also educators.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winans, Allan 1995 births Living people Atlanta Braves players Bakersfield Renegades baseball players Baseball players from Bakersfield, California Binghamton Rumble Ponies players Brooklyn Cyclones players Campbell Fighting Camels baseball players Columbia Fireflies players Florida Complex League Braves players Gwinnett Stripers players Kingsport Mets players Major League Baseball pitchers Mississippi Braves players Scottsdale Scorpions players