The former Diamond Heels who have recently began their professional baseball careers are wasting no time making an impact!
Jake Schaffner is off to a red-hot start at the plate, while Owen Hull has already showcased his ability to hit for power with his first professional homer. While those two guys have drawn a lot of early attention in the Boston Red Sox farm system, there are plenty of other Tar Heels scattered around the minor leagues, including Macon Winslow, who deposited a baseball in the seats on Sunday for his first home run of his professional baseball career.
Similar to Hull's shot, Winslow absolutely got all of this one!
Macon Winslow clubs the first HR of his professional baseball career
Winslow, the 6th round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies, showed what he can do with the bat when fully healthy. The former Tar Heel crushed a 406-foot homer, a three-run shot, which you can view in the video below.
Phillies 6th-round pick Macon Winslow launches his first pro homer for Clearwater, a 3-run shot. It travels 406 feet at 100.6 mph pic.twitter.com/fFprvOP1vs
— Mitch Rupert (@Mitch_Rupert) August 9, 2026
Due to the injury he suffered in the second half of his lone season in Chapel Hill, we didn't get the chance to see what Winslow could do with a clean bill of health. However, we saw what he is capable of doing offensively and defensively during the first half of the year, as he became an key part of the Diamond Heels order right out of the gate.
Another Tar Heel is Boston bound as the Red Sox continue their UNC pipeline
His numbers in the second half of the season don't tell the full tale of just how good he is at the sport, and you could even make the case that the Phillies got a steal when he fell to them in the sixth round of this year's draft class.
It's an exciting time for fans of the UNC baseball program, as there are quite a few former Tar Heels competing in the minor leagues in hopes of one day reaching the big leagues. For the time being, it will be fun to keep tabs on each of them as they pursue their dreams, as we all hope that they can all add to the number of Diamond Heels who have reached the sport's biggest stage.
Winslow might not have been around Chapel Hill for long, but his impact on the Diamond Heels was very important. He played a big role in helping UNC get to the College World Series Championship Series, even when he was hampered by injury and was forced to mostly serve as the team's designated hitter.
Needless to say, it's great to see Winslow looking healthy as he begins his professional baseball journey. Now, the hope is that many more home runs are in his future, helping him rise up the minor league system to one day call Citizens Bank Park his future home field.
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