Cole Robert Winn (born November 25, 1999) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the Texas Rangers organization.

Amateur career

Winn spent his freshman, sophomore, and junior years of high school at Silver Creek High School in

Longmont The City of Longmont is a home rule municipality located in Boulder and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. Longmont is located northeast of the county seat of Boulder and north-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Longmont's ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. As a junior in 2017 he was 9–0 with a 0.73 ERA with 95 strikeouts in innings, along with batting .388 with two home runs and 19 RBIs, earning himself the title of Colorado's Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year. That summer, in July, he played in the

Under Armour All-America Baseball Game The Under Armour High School All-America Baseball Game is a high school baseball all-star game held annually to spotlight the United States' top high school players who are juniors or seniors. The game is played in late July or August, at Wrigley ...

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

. He then transferred to

Lutheran High School of Orange County Lutheran High School of Orange County (commonly known as Orange Lutheran High School or OLu) is a private Lutheran high school in Orange, California, in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, founded in 1973. The school offers on-campus, online, and b ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

for his senior year. As a senior, he pitched to an 8–2 record with a 0.20 ERA and was named California's Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year and Baseball America's High School Player of the Year. He originally committed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

, but decommitted and then signed to play for the

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I. Sports sp ...

Professional career

Winn was selected 15th overall by the Texas Rangers in 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 ...

and signed for $3.15 million. After signing, Winn did not appear in an official game with a Rangers' affiliate in the 2018 season. Instead, he took part in a new program put in place by Texas for their newly drafted high school pitchers. The "de-load" program, as the organization calls it, emphasizes building a foundation mentally and physically, while resting bodies from a strenuous senior season and pre-draft showcase circuit. The players are put through a strength program and classroom work until post-season fall instructional training starts. Winn was ranked as the #89 overall prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline in their preseason 2019 Top 100 list. He was also ranked as the #72 overall prospect in baseball by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's Keith Law in his preseason 2019 Top 100 list. He was ranked as the #78 overall prospect in baseball by Fangraphs in their preseason 2019 Top 130 list. Winn made his professional debut in 2019 when was assigned to the

Hickory Crawdads The Hickory Crawdads are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League (SAL) and the High-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They are located in Hickory, North Carolina, and play their home games at L. P. Frans Stadium, which opened i ...

of the Class A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

with whom he started 18 games, compiling a 4–4 record with a 4.46 ERA over innings. Winn spent 2020 at the Rangers Alternate Training Site, due to the cancellation of the season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. To begin the 2021 season, he was assigned to the

Frisco RoughRiders The Frisco RoughRiders (often shortened to 'Riders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. They are located in Frisco, Texas, and are nam ...

of the Double-A

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...

. In June, Winn was selected to play in the

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League ...

Coors Field Coors Field is a baseball stadium in downtown Denver, Colorado. It is the home field of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies. Opened in 1995, the park is located in Denver's Lower Downtown neighborhood, two blocks from Union Station. The sta ...

. In 19 games for Frisco in 2021, Winn posted a 3–3 record with a 2.31 ERA and 97 strikeouts over 78 innings. After the end of Frisco's season in mid-September, he was promoted to the

Round Rock Express The Round Rock Express are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They are located in Round Rock, Texas, and play their home games at the Dell Diamond. The team is named ...

of the

Triple-A West The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Bas ...

where he posted a 3.38 ERA over two outings. He was named the Rangers' 2021

Nolan Ryan Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr. (born January 31, 1947), nicknamed "the Ryan Express", is an American former professional baseball pitcher and sports executive. Over a record 27-year playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanning four decades, Ryan ...

Pitcher of the Year. Winn spent the 2022 season back with Round Rock. Over 28 starts, he went 9-8 with a 6.51 ERA, 121.2 strikeouts, and 87 walks (the most in the minor leagues) over innings. On November 15, 2022, Winn was selected to the Rangers’ 40-man roster. Winn was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock to begin the 2023 season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winn, Cole 1999 births Living people People from Longmont, Colorado Baseball players from Colorado Baseball pitchers Hickory Crawdads players Frisco RoughRiders players Round Rock Express players