Winker's former managers expect breakout season

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Jesse Winker is healthy and happy, and his last two managers are betting that he’ll bounce back with the Brewers.

“I think ‘Wink’ is going to have a huge year for the Brewers. I really do,” said the Mariners’ Scott Servais, who managed Winker during an injury-plagued year in Seattle last season. “I just think coming into a new team, first time he had ever switched, there was a lot going on there. But if this guy is healthy, he can hit. This guy knows what he’s doing in the batter’s box.”

Ditto for Winker’s previous manager, the Reds’ David Bell.

“Jesse is a good friend, first,” Bell said. “We had a great experience with Wink. He’s become a really close friend, and he’s a great person. I think for Jesse, it’s really important for him to be in a comfortable place where he can be himself. Jesse being himself is plenty good enough. He’s an outstanding baseball player. He can really hit.”

Winker, acquired by the Brewers with infielder Abraham Toro in a trade that sent second baseman Kolten Wong to Seattle in December, grounded out in a trio of at-bats as the designated hitter during Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to the White Sox at Camelback Ranch in his Brewers spring debut.

It may seem like Winker is getting a late start after left knee surgery last October followed by a disc replacement surgery in his neck, but he has already logged as many at-bats as his Brewers teammates, per manager Craig Counsell -- only Winker has done it in the more controlled environment of simulated games.

“He’s hitting the ball really hard,” Brewers hitting coach Connor Dawson said. “The swing is consistent, the mentality is consistent, the results are consistent. I think he would be the first one to tell you that he wasn’t at full health last season, and he looks a lot different right now than anything we saw on video. He looks awesome.”

Barring a setback, Winker will “absolutely, definitely” get to play some games in the outfield before the end of camp, Counsell said.

Winker’s three at-bats on Tuesday included a hard comebacker in the sixth inning that struck the pitcher. It was “refreshing” to be pain-free and hitting with fans in the seats, Winker said.

“I’m grateful to be out there and grateful to be healthy,” he said. “I have a lot of people I should thank. It’s been a while since I was running around out there, pain-free.

The pain was so bad last season that it prevented him from sleeping, Winker said. Besides negatively impacting his performance, it soured his mood.

“When you wake up with constant pain -- it’s not an excuse to act a certain way,” Winker said. “It challenges your character, I think, at times. It’s not an excuse, it’s just the reality of the situation. You know, you move forward, you get surgery and you get healthy. I’m in a great place now. I’m happy. There’s great people here and I’m excited about this season.”

He added, “We’re adults. We’re men. We have a responsibility as people to help and to be good people. Nobody’s perfect. Everything that I’ve gone through with [injuries] amid whatever else -- I try to give people grace and understand that people might have things going on that we don’t know about, right? Did it affect me? For sure. I think it would affect all of us.”

Counsell knows some of what Winker was dealing with. Counsell endured the same relentless neck pain as a player and said he underwent the same surgery during his career. Based on that experience, Counsell expects Winker to experience bouts of neck soreness during the season.

But Counsell also expects solid production with Winker playing up to 81 home games in a ballpark that has been friendly to many a left-handed hitter.

His last two managers agreed that Winker found a good landing spot.

“I know there are a lot of places that are a good fit for Jesse Winker because I experienced it,” Bell said. “We all learn from everything we go through. Knowing Jesse, maybe there was something he learned from last year that can make him an even better baseball player and teammate than he already is.”

Said Servais: “I know what Craig does over there, and I think it will be a good fit. We had no problems at all. What happened [in Seattle with Winker’s struggles], it happens. They get off to a little bit of a slow start, then they press a little bit and try harder. Stuff happens. If I were a betting man, I would bet big on him to have a good year.”