GOODYEAR, Arizona – Fresh from being drafted, an 18-year-old Jesse Winker was at the Reds’ complex in Arizona and found the team’s then-field coordinator Freddie Benavides on Field 1.
“I walked right up to him and I said, ‘Wink can do two things – Wink can swing the stick and Wink can really swing the stick,’” Winker recalled recently.
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Benavides can’t help but laugh at the memory, pointing over to the field where it happened. At the time, Benavides immediately thought of the Reds’ then-right fielder, Jay Bruce.
“This is an 18-year-old kid – I would have never said anything like that. I thought that way, but…” Bruce recalled. “That’s kind of Jesse’s M.O. He’s an honest guy. That’s the first story I ever heard about him, so once I heard that story, I had to introduce myself, talk to him and get to know him a little bit.”
It wasn’t really until the next spring training that they got together. Benavides made the initial introduction on one of the fields in Goodyear.
It made perfect sense to Benavides – both were left-handed-hitting outfielders, both were first-round picks, both were from baseball hotbeds in the United States (Bruce from Texas, Winker from Florida) and both entered pro ball straight from high school.
“I really wanted Jay to teach Jesse to be a professional,” Benavides said. “The kid was very advanced. His thought process was a lot like Jay’s was in the minor leagues, they’re preparing for the major leagues, not the minor leagues. Jay’s built the same way, Joey (Votto) too. It was good for him to hear from Jay because sometimes it’s better to hear from your peers.”
Bruce saw it himself, it’s tough not to – they had some similarities on the field and even off of it. Both have upbeat, infectious personalities, even if Bruce’s aww-shucks-ness has mellowed over the years as he’s matured as a player and person and become a father.
It was cool for Winker that a player he grew up watching had taken an interest in him. Winker and his dad would watch baseball together in their Orlando home. They’d concentrate on left-handed hitters, watching games from all across baseball, just to see lefties who could swing the stick. Winker was watching the Reds take on the Astros on TV On Sept. 28, 2010, when Bruce launched the first pitch of the ninth inning off the batter’s eye in center field at Great American Ball Park to clinch the National League Central title for the Reds. He was talking to Bruce in Goodyear less than three years later.
“That comparison started as soon as I got drafted by the Reds,” Winker said recently, before noticing something on the TV in the clubhouse in Goodyear. “Hey, look, he’s hitting on TV right now. As soon as I got drafted by the Reds and that happened. It was always a good comp. I think, personally, it’s close.”
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When the two met, Winker was about to start his first full season in professional baseball in the same place Bruce did seven years prior, Dayton, Ohio.
Dayton is the perfect place for young Reds players to become professionals. The city has embraced the Dragons and their players and there is a strong foundation in place for young baseball players just starting out. It’s also close enough to Cincinnati that the team can keep an eye on its top prospects, like Bruce when he played there in 2006 and Winker in 2013.
Neither player had much trouble adjusting to the Midwest League. Bruce hit .291/.355/.516 with 16 home runs and 81 RBI as a 19-year-old in Dayton. Winker, then 19, hit .281/.379/.463 with 16 home runs and 76 RBI. The comparisons were occasional before Winker was in Dayton, but they were inevitable at and around Fifth Third Field.
It was during this time that Bruce solidified himself as Winker’s mentor with a simple text message. Winker, like Bruce before him, had been named to the Midwest League All-Star team. And like Bruce, he was going to be in the Home Run Derby.
“He texted me, ‘Hey man, I just wanted to wish you luck in the home run derby,’” Winker recalled. “I want to say he lost that home run derby when he was in it and he said, ‘bring it home.’ We talked about it, short and sweet about the home run derby. For me, at that time, you’re talking about a kid who is in low-A and you’ve got a guy like Jay Bruce texting you, wishing you luck, it was really good for me.”
Winker’s home run derby was a team challenge, but he hit the most and his team won. He also won the game’s “Star of Stars” award with three hits, a homer, a double and two stolen bases.
Bruce took an immediate liking to the kid. It was very much a mentor-and-mentee situation at first, with talks around the batting cage, dinners in spring training. It grew into a real, genuine friendship over time.
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“Partly because he wouldn’t leave me alone, a little bit,” Bruce jokes. “Partly, you could tell, you could see it in him. It started as a semi-moral obligation to be a good steward, having the experience that I had and what I’d been through. I saw the similarities, he was an outfielder, a lefty, a similar path that I had.”
It grew over the years. Winker’s become like “the little brother I never knew I wanted” for Bruce. He’ll visit Bruce’s home in Beaumont, Texas, every off-season. “Uncle Wink” showers Bruce’s two sons in Buffalo Bills gear (Winker was one of those Bills fans who donated to Andy Dalton’s charity last year), recruiting for the “Bills Mafia” deep in the heart of Cowboys and Texans country.
“We talk a lot. I can’t put a specific number on it. I talk to him, sometimes it’s days in a row, sometimes it’s… it’s a lot,” Winker said. “He’s helped me out with a lot of things on and off the field. It’s been very cool to have him. I have a lot of great people in my life, I have my two older brothers, I’ve got my mom and my dad. Baseball’s allowed me to be introduced to guys and have friendships with guys like Jay Bruce.”
Bruce was with the Mets in Florida during spring training the last two years, but his trade to the Mariners this winter has returned him to Arizona for spring training, where he and Winker can get together more often.
The two recently got lunch at a barbeque restaurant in Goodyear, where they sat for more than an hour talking over ribs, brisket and sausage. Winker chided Bruce about being “old” as he nears his 32nd birthday, while Bruce reminds Winker that “I’ve done everything you’ve done.”
Bruce saw an article last year with the headline, “The best hitter you’ve never heard of” about Winker. It makes him proud, as Winker is finding his own way.
There are similarities in their games, but there are also differences. Bruce is probably more athletic, a better defender and has more power, but Bruce said Winker is a “better pure hitter” than he is.
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“He doesn’t strike out a lot, controls the zone. He walked more than he struck out last year,” Bruce said. “I’m trying to get to one walk to two strikeouts. … I think over his career, he’s going to sleep a little easier than I’ve slept over my career.”
Winker played in 89 games last season for the Reds and hit .299/.405/.431 with seven home runs. He hit .299/.375/.529 with seven homers the prior year. He’s hit .299/.397/.460 in the big leagues and is a career .298/.398/.449 hitter in the minors. Bruce is a career .247/.318/.466 hitter with batting averages anywhere from .281 (in 2010) to .217 (in 2014).
“Sometimes I’m the best player in the league and sometimes I’m the worst player in the league,” Bruce said. “I don’t think Jesse’s skillset is going to be like that. I think it’s going to be more like Joey – and nobody’s like Joey, I want to make sure that everyone knows that – but it’s a little more of a higher floor, more consistent, less volatile game.”
And he’ll be watching every step of the way. Like any mentor, Bruce is excited to see his friend grow and become more than he has been.
“I really look forward to watching him continue to grow as a hitter because he can really, really hit,” Bruce said. “He can swing the stick.”
(Top image: Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports)