Should Jesse Winker Be On Cincinnati Reds’ Opening Day Roster?

It’s a topic that has started to be discussed among fans, especially since Jesse Winker has had a very good start to spring training.

Should the Cincinnati Reds include Winker on the Opening Day roster or do they send him to Triple-A Louisville to get some more experience before bringing him up? The discussion of this topic is only going to increase if Winker keeps playing well for the remaining three weeks in Arizona.

In 10 at-bats this spring, he’s hitting .300/.400/.764 with three hits, including a double, two runs scored and an RBI. On Tuesday night against the Giants, Winker started the game and went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Not a bad start for the 22-year-old and #1 prospect in the Reds organization.

Winker is certainly playing well enough to be considered for a 25-man roster spot. But why start that clock?  Why start the arbitration clock on Opening Day, and have him become a free agent one year earlier?

Last year, the Chicago Cubs were in a similar situation with Kris Bryant, their star prospect. Bryant hit incredibly well in Spring Training in 2015, and the Cubs had to make the decision of either putting him on their Opening Day roster or delaying his call-up in order to postpone his arbitration date. The Cubs ended up calling Bryant up in mid-April and he was able to help the team for the rest of the season while the Cubs were able to keep his arbitration clock from starting early.

The difference between Winker and Bryant is that: 1.) Bryant had played in 70 games with Chicago’s Triple-A team in 2014 and 2.) the Cubs were expected to contend in 2015. The Cubs were eager to bring him up because they knew he could contribute. The Reds are not expected to be anywhere near the top of the division this season and they have a couple other potential candidates who can play left field during this rebuilding year until Winker is ready.

Winker is still relatively young and he has yet to play a game at Triple-A Louisville in his career. In 2014, he split time between Bakersfield and Pensacola before finishing the season on the disabled list after breaking his wrist in a car accident. In 2015, he played in 123 games at Pensacola, hitting .282/.390/.433 with 13 home runs, 24 doubles, 55 RBI and an OPS of .823.

He’s proven what he can do at the Double-A level. Now, give him a couple of months at the Triple-A level to prove himself and then call him up to the big leagues. And if he really is the left fielder of the future, why rush him when this season is supposedly a lost season? Let him get some at-bats at Louisville and bring him up in the middle of the season to start hitting against major-league pitching. He gets a taste of both worlds and the Reds keep him at the lowest payroll level for another year.

Next: Q&A with Reds catching prospect Joe Hudson

Winker will almost certainly, barring injury, get called up to the major league level at some point in 2016. But don’t rush him just because fans want to see him now. It’s better to wait. After all, Joey Votto played in 718 games in the minors and look at how well that went.