Patrick Winkel

Winkel hit well as a freshman at UConn in 2019, when he batted .318/.361/.486 in 49 games with a team-high seven home runs. He spent 2020 recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he returned in 2021 and put together another strong season. Winkel starts his swing with a leg lift, keeps his hands fairly quiet and has a sound lefthanded swing. He doesn't have explosive bat speed and didn't face many plus fastballs in the Big East, but Winkel crushed the fastballs he did see. He has good plate coverage, with an ability to adjust his swing and barrel a fastball in any part of the zone and the power to hit 15-20 home runs. Winkel has a solid sense for the strike zone, but he didn't fare as well against offspeed stuff, with nearly all of his damage this year coming against fastballs. Winkel blocks and receives well, with his arm drawing mixed reviews but seeming to improve to flash average as he got further removed from surgery. His accuracy wavers, but he threw out 33% of runners.