Dan Winkler
| IP | 158 |
|---|---|
| ERA | 3.987 |
| WHIP | 1.278 |
| BB/9 | 4.557 |
| SO/9 | 9.854 |
- Full name Daniel Allen Winkler
- Born 02/02/1990 in Effingham, IL
- Profile Ht.: 6'3" / Wt.: 205 / Bats: R / Throws: R
- School Central Florida
- Debut 09/21/2015
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Drafted in the 20th round (618th overall) by the Colorado Rockies in 2011.
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Danny Winkler is a 6-foot-3, 200-pounder with a solid-average fastball and a slider that at times is a swing-and-miss pitch.
Top Rankings
Organization Prospect Rankings
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Atlanta selected Winkler from the Rockies during the major league phase of the 2014 Rule 5 draft. Winkler led the minors with 175 strikeouts in 2013, which he finished at Double-A Tulsa. He breezed through the Texas League in 2014, recording a 1.41 ERA in 12 starts, before having Tommy John surgery on July 1. Winkler's strengths are his deception, ability to exploit a hitter's weakness and above-average control of three pitches. He hides the ball well using his low three-quarters arm slot and creates different angles with his unorthodox delivery and inverted elbow that draws comparisons with veteran reliever Pat Neshek. Winkler mixes an 88-90 mph fastball that touches 92 with a cutter and slider with solid movement. While he does a good job of working inside to jam lefthanded batters, he is difficult for righthanders to pick up, which contributed to a .103 opponent average in 2014. Winkler returned from rehab to make two brief relief appearances with Atlanta in September 2015. Despite working as a starter in the minors, he profiles as a reliever in the majors. Winkler must spend 90 days on the Braves' active big league roster (to satisfy the Rule 5 restriction) before he can be optioned to the minors. He accrued about 25 days in 2015, so he will have about two months to prove himself to the big league staff in 2016. -
Winkler was selected by the Braves in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft, so Atlanta needs to keep him in the majors leagues all year or offer him back to the Rockies. That's a likely outcome because of an injury wrinkle. After leading the minors with 175 strikeouts in 2013, Winkler dominated the Texas League until he had Tommy John surgery on July 1. His unusual delivery creates deception and makes his ordinary stuff play much better. He has a low three-quarters arm slot with an inverted elbow in the back of his arm swing, which helps conceal the ball. He pitches at 88-90 mph and touches 92 with a fastball he commands well. Winkler began throwing a cutter, and he commands it better than his slider, enabling him to bore the pitch in on lefties. Winkler's changeup is effective. He's an extreme flyball pitcher, which could fit better at Turner Field than at Coors Field.
Minor League Top Prospects
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Winkler was on pace for a promotion to the Rockies when he suffered an elbow injury in the fourth inning of a June 7 start at Springfield. It halted 3 2/3 innings of no-hit ball that day, and then Tommy John surgery soon afterward put an end to his 2014 and '15 seasons. "He had that no-no going and I was thinking that this might go down," Springfield manager Mike Shildt said. "Shoot, this guy was tough. He made it look easy." Several league managers believed Winkler had the best stuff of Tulsa's impressive quartet of arms that also included Jon Gray, Eddie Butler and Tyler Anderson. Winkler, who led the minors with 175 strikeouts in 2013, was certainly the most effective pitcher this season. He yielded just three earned runs on 13 hits over his first 30 innings and never looked back. Hitters have a tough time picking up all three of Winkler's pitches out of his unorthodox delivery, and his low-90s fastball in particular plays up because of its movement. He mixes in a short, slurvy slider that he can locate in the zone or tease out of it and a changeup with good downer action. -
Casper finished with the league's worst record at 27-49, in large part because its pitching staff anchored them to the bottom of the standings with a 5.91 ERA. Ghosts pitchers allowed 517 runs in 76 games, and the lone bright spot among them was Winkler, a 20th-rounder with a quick arm who could pitch high-leverage relief innings in the big leagues one day. Used exclusively as a starter in his pro debut, Winkler pitched at 91-94 mph early in games before fading to 89-91 by the third inning. The fact that he navigated the Pioneer League with 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings, while allowing just six homers in 12 starts, speaks the quality and command of his solid-average fastball Winkler's go-to pitch is his putaway slider, which features plus depth and generates plenty swings and misses. His changeup is less refined and grades comfortably below-average.
