Offseason substitute teacher pitches 7 shutout innings for MLB-best Atlanta Braves

By Kevin Dotson, CNN

(CNN) — Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Allan Winans tossed seven shutout innings in the team’s 21-3 win against the New York Mets on Saturday afternoon.

The 28-year-old right-hander racked up nine strikeouts and picked up his first Major League Baseball win in just his second appearance in the big leagues.

Winans has been supplementing his minor league salary in the offseason by working as a substitute teacher in his native Bakersfield, California, where he is known as “Mr. W” to his students, according to Braves broadcaster Bally Sports South.

Winans was a 17th-round draft pick in the 2018 draft; ironically, he was originally selected by the New York Mets.

“Anytime you get called to the big leagues, it’s pretty special and it’s pretty cool. But getting drafted by those guys, they definitely made me dream of Citi Field, so getting to come here and do it against those guys makes it a little more special,” Winans said after the game.

“But my job today was to help the Braves win, and that’s what we did, so I was pretty happy with it.”

“Getting your first ‘W’ in the big leagues is pretty cool no matter what team it is (against),” Winans added.

Braves’ slugger Matt Olson cracked two home runs in the blowout win to take over the big league lead with 42 long balls this season and drove in 4 runs to pad his big-league-best RBI total of 105.

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