Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright Hoping to Rewrite Disappointing End to 2022 in Final Season
One of the best pitchers of his generation plans to retire after next season, but there’s still tons to accomplish before he does.
Adam Wainwright, a future Hall-of-Fame pitcher, announced earlier this week that he’d be returning for the 2023 season but that it’ll be the final one of his career. The 41-year-old will earn $17 million next season, with $10 million of his salary deferred.
With long-time teammates Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina recently retiring, Wainwright could’ve also walked off into the sunset after the St. Louis Cardinals were eliminated from the postseason. Most baseball fans assumed he was planning to do so, anyway.
That’s something the three-time All-Star seriously contemplated throughout this past season. Could he sneakily walk away from the game that he loves? In the end, his answer was no. At least, not yet.
In Wainwright’s mind, there is still some unfinished business from his 17th big-league season – 18th if you include his Tommy-John-surgery-filled 2011 campaign – that requires completing in 2023.
For starters, the right-hander wants to conclude his legendary career knowing that he left everything on the field, which wouldn’t have been the case if he retired after 2022. He also couldn’t step away after struggling mightily down the stretch in September/October.
Things went sideways over his final six starts of the regular season, where he posted an alarming 7.22 ERA and 4.37 FIP across 28.2 innings. The 6-foot-7 hurler also allowed 11 walks and two home runs, with opponents posting a .349 AVG against him.
Amid this brutal stretch, the Cardinals sidelined Wainwright in both of their post-season contests versus the Philadelphia Phillies, which wasn’t an easy decision. And after being eliminated on home field at Busch Stadium, it was then when the veteran righty knew he needed to return next season.
Wainwright, who was hit in the leg by a comebacker on Aug. 28, later revealed via social media that the incident significantly affected him late in the season. It unintentionally caused him to shorten his pitching stride, throwing off his timing and creating some poor habits.
Because of these mechanical flaws, his release point began drifting further away from his body, leading to his inconsistent command. That was an issue he hadn’t previously experienced in his career.
As a pitcher, it’s crucial to release your pitches as far away from the rubber as possible. That is an area where Wainwright has excelled historically, as his average extension has ranked in the 70th percentile or higher in five of his eight seasons since 2015.
It placed in the 62nd percentile this past season because of his late-season woes, where the extension on four of his five pitches – excluding his changeup – dropped significantly over the final two months.
Source: Baseball Savant
The 29th overall selection from 2000 should be able to make the necessary adjustments to correct these issues before next spring. He’ll likely be studying film of himself all off-season, though. It’ll also help that his knee will have an entire winter to recover.
For the Cardinals to overcome this season’s playoff failures, they’ll desperately need Wainwright to be at his best in 2023. And he’s still capable of being effective at this stage of his career – his 3.71 ERA from this past season proved just that.
Winning another World Series remains his top priority, especially since he wasn’t available during St. Louis’ 2011 championship run and was on the losing end to the Boston Red Sox in ‘13. Not to mention, he was only a rookie when the Cardinals won in ‘06 and hadn’t established himself as a starter at that point, either.
Now, 16 years later, Wainwright hopes to capture his second World Series ring before his legendary career wraps up. But he’s also approaching a few prestigious milestones.
St. Louis’ ace has notched 195 career regular-season wins, five shy of the well-regarded 200 mark. He can jump ahead of Jesse Haines (210) for second all-time in franchise history with 16 more victories. That is, however, something he has only accomplished in five of his 17 seasons.
With 2,567.1 career innings pitched, Wainwright is also just 91.2 innings away from passing Bob Forsch (2,658.2) for second all-time. The towering hurler shouldn’t have any issues completing that feat just as long as he remains healthy.
The Brunswick, Georgia, native can also reach the 2,200 strikeout mark with 53 additional punchouts next season. He already ranks second all-time in that category but is unlikely to catch Bob Gibson, who leads the franchise in strikeouts (3,117), wins (251) and innings pitched (3,884.1).
There will be a changing of the guard behind home plate next season, though, as someone other than Molina will serve as Wainwright’s primary catcher. Of course, others have caught him before, but whoever takes over that role will have massive shoes to fill.
The Cardinals will likely be active in free agency as they attempt to acquire an everyday catcher this off-season. And with Willson Contreras available, perhaps Wainwright’s newest battery mate will come from one of the team’s divisional rivals.
More changes could be on the horizon, as well, as Nolan Arenado can opt out of his $35 million player option for 2023, granting him free agency ahead of his age-32 season. His departure would instantly create a gaping hole at third base, which wouldn’t be easy to fill.
St. Louis, meanwhile, is hopeful to retain Arenado no matter his final decision. The club is also receiving assistance from Wainwright and Paul Goldschmidt, who each remain in consistent contact with the all-star third baseman.
The 2023 season will be Wainwright’s final year regardless of the outcome. But unlike Pujols and Molina, the long-time Cardinal isn’t a fan of farewell tours and would prefer not to receive one from the baseball community. They probably won’t listen to him, though.
Wainwright’s efforts deserve to be celebrated before he walks off the mound one final time, and Cardinals fans will make sure of that, just as they did with Nos. 4 and 5.
There won’t be another pitcher like him, someone who dominates with elite pitch sequencing rather than pure stuff, though you’ll be hard-pressed to find another knee-buckling curveball like his, too. It is simply one of a kind.
So when Wainwright arrives for spring training in 2023, there’ll likely be one goal on his mind: pitch like it’s the final start of your career. Because for him, that’ll soon become a reality.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Dave Herholz. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.