Kyle Winkler’s nickname might dramatize his age just a little.
“We call him Grandpa Kyle,” said third baseman Grant Kay, who played with Winkler before being placed with the Durham Bulls. “He is one of the older guys. He is really mature. He has a lot of responsibilities.”
But “Grandpa Kyle,” a right-handed Biscuits pitcher, is only 27. He became a first-time father May 22 when his wife, Stephanie, gave birth to their daughter, Kole.
“Having to be responsible for another life has been pretty life-changing,” Kyle Winkler said. “I am trying to juggle everything. Jesus has given me my wife, my daughter and the opportunity to play baseball here and live out loud for anybody who wants to hear about Him.”
In 2015, Kyle Winkler was the Biscuits’ best closer, pitching nine innings of relief. His ERA was 0.96 and his 13 strikeouts were the most among Biscuits closers. In 2016 he was 0–2 with a 2.53 ERA in 29 appearances with 36 strikeouts. He had eight saves for the Biscuits.
Gets the job done
While the slider is his favorite pitch, his fastball is clocked between 94 and 96 mph.
Biscuits catcher Nick Ciuffo said when Kyle Winkler goes to the mound in the ninth inning, the other team might as well pack it up and go home.
“You know what you are going to get,” Ciuffo said. “He always likes to make it interesting in the ninth inning. You can have the bases loaded with a one-run lead and no outs in the bottom of the ninth and he is always going to get the job done. He comes in and closes and the door.”
There have been times when Kyle Winkler thought his baseball career may be finished. He was released twice, once from the Arizona Diamondbacks and once from the Los Angeles Angels.
But God used those moments to grow Kyle Winkler, he said. The pitcher did a lot of soul searching and searching for his purpose.
‘Send me’
“Honestly I put it on God and told Him, ‘Wherever you want to send me, send me.’ Ever since then, life has been pretty good. It’s pretty simple. I have not had to worry about much,” Kyle Winkler said. “He has always taken care of me. There is a separate plan that is not mine, and that is OK.”
Kyle Winkler first learned about faith from his parents, Mike and Suzanne Winkler, and while in the youth group at First United Methodist Church, Sugar Land, Texas.
“I went to church as a kid with my parents,” he said. “I accepted Christ when I was 13 or 14 on a church retreat. I found my way through the youth group to Christ. At even 13 something was missing in my life, and I knew that I had a higher purpose. I have been trying to practice my faith ever since then.”
Kyle Winkler reads his Bible before going to bed, participates in team Bible studies and prays after warming up for each inning. Other players look to him as a spiritual example.
“If you want to grow, you have to dive deep into the Word,” he said. “Faith makes life so much easier to deal with and to handle. There are plenty of things that life throws at you every day that you have to be able to figure out.”
Don’t worry, he said — just give those things to God. That’s what he does, he said.
“I pick myself up off the mat and keep going,” Kyle Winkler said.
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