The St. Louis Cardinals announced Thursday after a 4-2 loss to the New York Mets that they are promoting rookie shortstop Masyn Winn from Triple-A Memphis.
St. Louis also said it was placing outfielder Lars Nootbaar on the 10-day injured list because of a lower abdomen contusion. Winn will take Nootbaar's spot on the 40-man roster ahead of Friday's game against the Mets.
Winn, 21, who was the Cardinals' second-round pick (54th player overall) in the 2020 MLB draft, is currently No. 16 among the midseason top 50 MLB prospects, according to ESPN's Kiley McDaniel.
"He's one of the most exciting players I've seen in a while, and I am thrilled that he is coming up and we'll get a chance to see it up here," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said, according to MLB.com. "This is an electric player, for sure."
In 105 games this season at Memphis, Winn has hit .288 with a .474 slugging percentage. He has 18 home runs with 61 RBIs and 17 stolen bases in his first season of play at Triple-A.
He leads all of minor league baseball with 99 runs and is tied for second among Triple-A players with 128 hits.
The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Winn has 92 stolen bases in 104 career attempts in the minors, an 88% success rate, and has 20 career triples. Winn has had four separate hitting streaks of at least 10 games this season, including a career-high 16-game streak from May 23 to June 9.
He also has a standout arm. Winn was clocked throwing 100.5 mph from shortstop during the 2022 All-Star Futures Game. No shortstop has been recorded throwing triple digits in a big league game before.
Winn joins Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker among players from the Cardinals' 2020 draft class who are now playing for St. Louis. He was the youngest player at the Triple-A level to begin the 2023 campaign.
"He's been going off down there [with Memphis], and he's been feeling really great lately, so it's great to see him doing so well," Walker said. "We've been through so many ups and downs together, and seeing him do his thing now in Triple-A is so special to me. I'm excited to start playing with him again, for sure."
Nootbaar was hurt Wednesday. He took a foul ball to the groin area in an 8-0 loss to Oakland. With center fielder Dylan Carlson (oblique) also on the IL, the Cardinals started Tommy Edman in center against New York on Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.