Josh Winckowski Boston Red Sox Pitcher

       
 
Age: 26
Born: June 28, 1998
Birthplace: Toledo, OH
Height: 6-4
Weight: 215
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
   
Drafted: 15th round, 2016 by TOR
How Acquired: Acquired from the NY Mets with a PTBNL in a three-team deal along with Franchy Cordero and 2 PTBNL from Kansas City, with Andrew Benintendi and cash to KC, and Khalil Lee from KC to NYM (Feb. 2021)
College: (Florida SW State Commit)
High School: Estero (FL)

Photo © Kelly O'Connor
Josh Winckowski photos by Kelly O'Connor
Pronunciation: win-KOW-skee
First Pro Contract: July 11, 2016 (TOR)
Signing Scout: N/A
Signing Bonus: $125,000
Rule 5 Draft Eligible: N/A
MLFA Eligible: N/A
   
Pro Debut: July 13, 2016 (GCL)
Added to 40-man: November 19, 2021 (BOS)
MLB Debut: May 28, 2022 (BOS)
Service Time (1/24): 1 year, 74 days
Options Remaining: 1 (2022, 2024)
Contract (2024): $760,000
   
Twitter: @joshwinckowski
Instagram: @joshuawinckowski

 
 
 
 
 
     
  Scouting Report & Links      
         
  Physical Description: Tall, sturdy frame. Minimal remaining projection. Looks the part. Solid athlete.

Mechanics: Throws from a high three-quarters arm slot. Varies mound position and arm slot depending on the handedness of the hitter, starting on the first base side against right-handed hitters and third base side against left-handed hitters. Does not use a wind-up. Medium leg kick. Repeats delivery well. Short, stiff arm action with a stab in the back. Solid-average arm speed. Hides the ball.

Fastball: Throws multiple variations, including a four-seam, a sinker and a cutter. Four-seam works 94-96 mph. Touched 99 mph out of the bullpen in the 2021 Arizona Fall League. Four-seam lacks movement and does not miss as many bats as you would expect given its velocity. Sinker sits 92-93 mph. Primarily tries to pitch up with four-seam and keep sinker down to generate weak contact early in counts. Began mixing in cutter late in 2021, but used the pitch sparingly in outings scouted in 2022. Cutter sits in the same velocity band as his sinker. Overall, good control, but command is fringe-average at present. Command should get to at least average at peak. Potential above-average offering with refined command.

Slider: 83-87 mph. Pitch will show hard, late, vertical break at its best. Advanced feel and confidence. Will throw in any count to hitters from both sides of the plate. Will vary shape, with some more vertical with longer break and some more horizontal with tilt. Has shown bat-missing ability in the minor leagues, but there are questions about how well that will translate to the major league level. Potential above-average offering.

Changeup: 89-91 mph. On the firm side and lacks separation from his fastball. At its best will show late drop. Not a big swing-and-miss pitch, mostly designed to get hitters off-balance and generate weak contact. Potential average offering.
  Split-Finger Fastball: Reportedly started throwing at the 2020 Fall Instructional League, but hard to separate from changeup at times.

Career Notes: Grew up in the Ft. Myers area. Signed away from a commitment to Florida Southwestern State. Spent three seasons in short-season ball before splitting 2019 between Low-A and High-A. Missed time in 2019 with a finger injury that lingered and impacted his stuff throughout the year. Was left unprotected and went unselected in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft. Traded from Toronto to the Mets in January 2021 as part of a trade for Steven Matz. Was then traded to Boston as a part of the three-team Andrew Benintendi trade in February 2021, just two weeks later. Was added to the 40-man roster in November 2021 to protect him from selection in the Rule 5 Draft.

Summation: Potential multi-inning bridge relief arm. Ceiling of a back-end starting pitcher. Could be very effective in a bulk role, in which his lack of strikeout potential with his fastball would not be as much of an issue. Slider misses more bats than his changeup at this point, but still does not at a very high level. Margin for error is slim, as he has to rely on commanding his pitches and generating weak contact. To stick as a starter long-term, needs to make strides with his command and improve his slider to the point where it can be counted on as a consistent bat-missing pitch at the major league level. Can effectively tunnel his fastball, sinker, vertical slider and changeup, with all moving in similar ways, but could stand to mix in more of his cutter or a horizontal slider to give hitters a different look. Very competitive. Really thinks about pitching and is always trying to refine his craft.

Links
Scouting Scratch (8.3.2021)
Scouting Scratch: Breaking Down the Arizona Fall League Contingent (10.27.2021)
Scouting Scratch: Red Sox 2021 Rule 5 Preview (11.18.2021)
 
   
     
    Pitching Stats                                          
  year team lg level org age w l era g gs sv ip h r er hr hbp bb so whip k/9 bb/9
2016 GCL Blue Jays GCL Rk Tor 18 2 2 4.61 5 3 0 13.2 16 9 7 2 0 4 13 1.46 8.56 2.63
  2017 Bluefield Blue Jays App Rk Tor 19 2 2 5.33 12 11 0 54.0 61 41 32 8 2 24 45 1.57 7.50 4.00
  2018 Vancouver Canadians Nwst A- Tor 20 4 5 2.78 13 13 0 68.0 68 27 21 2 6 15 71 1.22 9.40 1.99
  2019 Lansing Lugnuts Midw A Tor 21 6 3 2.32 13 13 0 73.2 62 20 19 3 3 26 71 1.19 8.67 3.18
  2019 Dunedin Blue Jays FSL A+ Tor 21 4 5 3.19 11 10 1 53.2 48 24 19 5 2 17 37 1.21 6.20 2.85
  2020 Season Cancelled --- --- Bos 22 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
  2021 Portland Sea Dogs DNE AA Bos 23 8 3 4.14 21 20 0 100.0 100 54 46 10 2 30 88 1.30 2.93 2.70
  2021 Worcester Red Sox TAE AAA Bos 23 1 1 2.25 2 2 0 12.0 5 3 3 1 1 3 13 0.67 9.80 2.30
  2021 Scottsdale Scorpions AFL Fall Bos 23 1 0 6.55 6 0 0 11.0 15 9 8 1 2 4 3 1.73 2.45 3.27
2022 Worcester Red Sox IL AAA Bos 24 2 4 3.82 13 12 0 61.1 57 38 26 4 1 18 62 1.22 9.10 2.64
2022 Boston Red Sox AL MLB Bos 24 5 7 5.89 15 14 0 70.1 85 47 46 10 2 27 44 1.59 5.63 3.45
2023 Boston Red Sox AL MLB Bos 25 4 4 2.88 60 1 3 84.1 89 34 27 9 3 31 82 1.42 8.75 3.31
2024 Worcester Red Sox IL AAA Bos 26 3 2 2.87 7 6 0 31.1 33 16 10 1 1 6 29 1.24 8.33 1.72
2024 Boston Red Sox AL MLB Bos 26 4 2 4.14 40 6 2 76.0 81 44 35 10 4 26 60 1.41 7.11 3.08
2025 Boston Red Sox AL MLB Bos 27     stats                            
   
     
  Advanced Stats & Splits
   
     
  Awards   SoxProspects.com Awards  
  Northwest League Pitcher of the Week (July 30 - August 5, 2018)
Northwest League Pitcher of the Week (August 13-19, 2018)
Northwest League Season-End All-Star (2018)
Northwest League Pitcher of the Year (2018)
Midwest League All-Star (2019)
International League Pitcher of the Week (June 6-12, 2022)
  SoxProspects.com Pitcher of the Week (May 25-30, 2021)
SoxProspects.com Pitcher of the Week (June 6-12, 2022)
SoxProspects.com Pitcher of the Week (June 10-16, 2024)
 
   

   
     
 
 
 
     
 
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