Kirby Winstead has an interesting list of experiences on his résumé: Bicycle assembler. Floor scrubber. Disc jockey. Pest control specialist. Pastor. Director of missions. Board chairman.
Add another: Major League Baseball scout.
Kirby Winstead, left, and Steve Kring, a scouting supervisor for the Cincinnati Reds, evaluate talent at a Clemson-South Carolina game on Feb. 28.Winstead, acting president of South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging and former director of missions for Pickens-Twelve Mile Baptist Association, is a “recommending scout” for the Cincinnati Reds.
The story of how a Southern Baptist pastor who loves the game of baseball became an MLB scout falls under the heading of “right place, right time.” A few years ago, Winstead, a season ticket holder for Clemson University baseball, arrived late to a game and, seeing a loyal Tiger fan sitting in his seat, decided not to ask him to move. He instead chose an empty seat near the press box and struck up a conversation with a man sitting next to him.
The man’s name was Steve Kring, and Winstead learned he was a scout for the Reds. Kring was there to evaluate a highly touted pitcher for the visiting team. He asked Winstead what he thought of the young pitcher.
“I see an undersized pitcher with a belly who fights his body to throw,” said Winstead, peering out to the mound. “Not a good fast ball – lives off his breaking stuff.”
“Where would you draft him?”
“Late round.”
Impressed, Kring told Winstead there wasn’t “one scout in a thousand” who would have assessed the pitcher as keenly. “What do you do for a living?” he asked.
“I’m a Baptist preacher,” said Winstead.
Their conversation drifted to matters of faith. Kring told Winstead he had been a Christian for six months. After the stadium emptied, the two remained seated, talking. Before they left, Kring asked Winstead to pray with him.
They became friends. Kring attended baseball games at the preparatory school where Winstead coached his son Clay’s team. Sometime later, when Winstead decided to give up his volunteer coaching duties, Kring surprised him by asking Winstead to sign a contract as a recommending scout for the Reds and keep his eye on young talent he might come across while watching high school and college games in South Carolina.
“For its size, South Carolina has as much baseball talent as any state,” Winstead said. He has seen several good players in the last four years but has yet to recommend anyone to the Reds as “draftable.”
Still, being a part of the enduring game of baseball affords him the opportunity to talk with players and their dads, or to recommend a certain training program – even to present Christ and the gospel. Winstead sees his involvement in the game as an opportunity to “confront our culture with the gospel.”
“A lot of guys sit in their office all the time – and it’s nothing for me to put 30 hours into a sermon, myself – but we’ve got to budget our time and get out,” he said.
“It might not be through baseball, but we need to be authentically Christian in a culture that needs salt and light.”