Josh Winder

Winder began last season in a long relief role and was impressive and given several stints in the starting rotation. He had a 3.68 ERA in his first seven games (three starts) before missing a month due to right shoulder impingement syndrome. He struggled with shoulder issues the rest of the season sandwiching a 5.50 ERA in eight starts around another six weeks on the injured list due to the same shoulder issue. It was the second consecutive season where Winder struggled with shoulder issues which could make him an injury risk. Despite his initial success, he also didn't display some of the underlying positive metrics he had in the minors with just a 6.3 K/9 and 1.48 HR/9. Winder did display his good control as he had a 2.4 BB/9. While he doesn't have an overpowering fastball (94.1 mph average) he has three quality off-speed pitches to keep batters off balance. He'll be in the mix for a spot in the rotation or a tandem-type long relief role this spring, but may need to show he can stay healthy at Triple-A first.

If Winder had finished the year healthy, he would be ranked significantly higher as a fantasy prospect and would be a very intriguing selection in draft-and-hold leagues. Even with his season sputtering out due to shoulder fatigue, he is at least worth monitoring this spring to see if he is back to full strength. A physical specimen at 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, the big righty checks all the boxes for a future starter, provided he can handle the workload. Winder has a mid-90s fastball, two plus secondaries in his mid-80s slider and upper-80s changeup and a fourth-pitch curveball that could be an average offering. He dominated at Double-A (1.98 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 31.3 K%, 4.8 BB%), but was less dominant in four starts at Triple-A (4.67 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 22.4 K%, 4.8 BB%). Perhaps his shoulder had already started barking at that point, but it's at least encouraging that even when he didn't have his best stuff, his control was still elite. Despite missing the final two months of the year, Winder got up to 72 innings, so he could push past 100 innings with good health. He is on the 40-man roster, and the Twins' rotation is wide open, so he is a quality sleeper heading into spring training.