Winn revealed that his mother, Carla Winn, was diagnosed with a degenerative autoimmune condition earlier this year — a disease that has slowly taken away her ability to walk unassisted. Yet even as her health declined, Carla remained a constant presence in her son’s life, attending spring training in a wheelchair and watching every game from home, never missing an inning.
“She never asked for anything,” Winn said. “But she gave me everything — love, strength, belief, even when I didn’t believe in myself.”
Carla raised Masyn as a single parent in Houston, working multiple jobs to keep him enrolled in competitive baseball programs. She once drove 300 miles overnight for him to make a 7 a.m. showcase, sleeping in the car between innings. Now, as her son plays on one of baseball’s biggest stages, the roles have quietly reversed.
“I fly back home every off day,” Winn confessed. “I make her breakfast, sit with her during her physical therapy. It’s the least I can do.”
Inside the clubhouse, Winn’s story has touched teammates and coaches alike. Manager Oliver Marmol said, “Masyn brings fire to the field, but it’s the heart he carries that defines him.” Several teammates have taken to writing Carla’s initials — “CW” — on their batting gloves in tribute.
As fans cheer his acrobatic double plays and blazing baserunning, Masyn Winn plays for more than just the Cardinals — he plays for a promise he once whispered to his mother: “One day, I’ll make you proud enough for both of us.”
And as she watches from a hospital bed, proudly wearing her Cardinals jersey with his number stitched across the back, she already is.