Each week at the start of the Road to the Alabama High School State Championships, Mark and Lee will feature an “Athlete of the Week” right here!
With our Road to the Alabama High School State Championships now fully underway, the third stop the Opening Kickoff made was at Spanish Fort High School, where our Athlete of the Week is senior John Henry Winstead!
John Henry is a star pitcher for the Toros baseball team. The team sits at 11-6 currently as we head squarely into region play with Winstead putting up some mind boggling stats.
In 15 innings pitched, Winstead has struck out 23 batters while walking just two thus far. He sports an ERA that is below 1.0, sitting at .72 currently.
The Opening Kickoff was joined by Winstead and his coach, Tommy Walker.
“A lot of guys play hard, but John Henry is a competitor. There’s a difference,” Walker said.
“Competitors play hard, and they play the right way playing hard. And that’s what he does on the mound.”
Winstead sports a fastball, changeup, and slider with the fastball topping out around 87 MPH.
He spoke on what his senior year at Spanish Fort means to him and how special it will be to play one last season as a Toro.
“It’s the last one you can get everything out of. You don’t wanna have any regret after the season is over because you’re not gonna get it back. So it’s just pouring your heart out onto the field playing with everything you’ve got one last time,” said Winstead.
He also talked about having to balance emotion and staying composed on the mound.
“I think I play with emotion, but not emotional. When I’m playing, I’m playing. I’m coming after you. I was smaller than everybody sophomore year, but I was throwing with everything I got,” he said.
You can listen to our full show at Spanish Fort including our interview with John Henry right here and get all of our on-air content at WNSP Now wherever you get your podcasts:
