Cardinals' Adam Wainwright reaches 2,000 strikeouts Im skeptical only because of the history of how the Cardinals do this when a pitcher doesnt pitch, or takes a delay before his next assignment. By checking this box, I agree to the terms of service and privacy policy of Rogers Media. But theres no alarm. Wainwright had won nine of 10 decisions coming in. St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright may have ended a solid career. Will this happen? If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER. After doing some [strength] assessments, its something he can solve. Queried about his Cooperstown credentials during the Cardinals' visit to Citi Field last month, Wainwright grinned while seemingly acknowledging his counting numbers he has 184 wins and 2,004. The best pitcher in MLB? Maybe he has it in him to stick around for another 20 wins to get to 200, but he might not even crack the top 100 in JAWS while doing so. It happens a lot. and play-by-play data provided by Sports Info Solutions. The Cardinals are calm. Adam Wainwright never won a Cy Young Award. "Adam Wainwright is going to have such an interesting Hall of Fame case once he retires." - Connor Looker Throughout his career, Wainwright has won a World Series and has been selected to. Its just hard to pitch that long nowadays, without injuries especially. And while deGromcontinued to blast 100-mph fastball after 100-mph fastball past hitterseven while missing turns here and there due to what were believed (by the Mets, at least) to be minor and disconnected injuries, he finally landed on the IL in early July with forearm inflammation. Adam Wainwright in 2021 His lifetime ERA is 3.35 and has dropped nearly a tenth of a point over the last two seasons. Even if he retired now, Verlander has likely done enough to ensure a plaque in Cooperstown. Greinke has won an ERA title in each league. Adam Wainwright was born on the 30th of August, 1981. 2/4/18 Super Bowl champs. Among the sixty-five (again, the number of Hall of Fame starting pitchers) greatest starting pitchers in history, five are either currently active or retired but not yet Hall eligibleJustin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Zack Greinke, and CC Sabathia. Gibson got his 2,000th strikeout when Pittsburgh's Roberto Clemente was called out on July 13, 1969. Of course, theres no prorating stats when it comes to evaluating Hall of Fame candidates, and so Wainwright appeared to be in the company of the likes of Roy Oswalt Wainwrights most similar pitcher per Baseball-Reference.com Cliff Lee and former teammate Chris Carpenter as pitchers who had terrific peaks but lacked the length for serious Cooperstown consideration. Are there baseball seasons good enough to get Adam Wainwright past Dwight Gooden? Nelson Cruz, right field (42.2 career | 30.1 Peak | 36.1 JAWS, +1.3 JAWS). Hes never pitched for a World Series champion, and his career postseason statistics wont help him hes 2-8 with a 5.54 ERA, and hes gotten completely shelled on multiple occasions. Verlanders resume is impressive; hes led the league in strikeouts four times, wins twice, won a pitching triple crown, and thrown two no-hitters. With 273 homers, Goldschmidt could reach 300 by the end of next season, though with 1,539 hits, the 2,000 milestone and real clarity on his fate is probably three seasons away. Im going to disregard them for now, though all five should (and all but Sabathia probably will) make it eventually. Queried about his Cooperstown credentials during the Cardinals visit to Citi Field last month, Wainwright grinned while seemingly acknowledging his counting numbers he has 184 wins and 2,004 strikeouts are not going to measure up to most of the starting pitchers enshrined in Cooperstown. . While a Cy Young Award does not guarantee entry, it certainly helps. His 195 career wins have him tied for 132nd all-time, and his career strikeouts currently have him sitting 71st all-time. He answers the tough question on if his legacy is enough to get him into the MLB Hall of Fame alongside the all-time greats.Follow all our social media channels for more content!https://twitter.com/FoulTerritoryTVhttps://www.instagram.com/foulterritoryshow/https://www.tiktok.com/@foulterritoryshowhttps://www.facebook.com/FoulTerritoryShowhttps://www.twitch.tv/foulterritoryshow A two-homer, two-walk game on Wednesday added half a win to whats now his seventh-best season (4.5 WAR); with a big finish, he can approach the peak standard (42.7 WAR). Saturday marked the end of an era for the St. Louis Cardinals. How much more does Wainwright need to do to make the Hall of Fame in your eyes? David Price is older than he seems; hes already 32 in a few months with just 122 career wins. The performance was unsurprisingly unsustainable. Its only the normal spring-training grind, building up arm strength, minor inflammation, no reason to think hell have to go on the IL, our trainers feel good about it. Even so, five catchers including the younger and still-productive Buster Posey outrank him in the framing-inclusive version of my metric, and with an 80 wRC+ and 0.7 fWAR this year, plus plans to retire after 2022, he might not even catch Russell Martin (49.1) or Joe Mauer (49.3) in the rankings. Follow him on Twitter @jay_jaffe and Mastodon @jay_jaffe. If he can maintain this kind of dominance for a few more years, hell get to Cooperstown. 76-43, 3.18 ERA, 1,183 strikeouts, 124 adjusted ERA. Hes certainly on pace for the Hall, but a lot of it will depend on how he can rebound following his off-the-field motorcycle accident. Waino certainly isn't a National Hall of Famer, but there is an argument for the Cardinals Hall of Fame for sure. Twenty-eight are enshrined in Cooperstown everyone except Wainwright and his fellow active hurlers Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw, the latter trio of whom are expected to glide in Cooperstown, as well as Roger Clemens, Tommy John, Luis Tiant, Jerry Koosman, Rick Reuschel, Kevin Brown and Vida Blue. Everyone Thinks Justin Verlander Belongs In The Hall Of Fame. So Why by Retrosheet. Press release: Cardinals announce 2022 promotions schedule - MLB.com If hes still got the stuff and durability to get to 3,000, the rest of the numbers might fall into place. Adam Wainwright is the quintessential "Hall of Fame candidate for Cardinals fans" Hall of Fame candidate of the current team. But I want to consider Adam Wainwrights Hall of Fame case as a purely statistical candidate based on the statistics we currently have. The Cardinals and starting pitching and injuries. deGrom has already racked up significant value even while qualifying for the ERA title only five times in eight seasons. An Alternate Hall of Fame populated by a mathematical formula. The pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, in which Wainwright went 5-3 with a 3.15 ERA in 10 starts, amounted to a fourth lost season for the right-hander, who missed all of 2011 recovering from Tommy John surgery and made just seven appearances (four starts) due to a torn Achilles in 2015 before he was limited to eight starts by right elbow inflammation in 2018. . NL Wild Card Game: Is Adam Wainwright Going To Join Max - Forbes Pujols, Wainwright and Molina were each given an introduction and trotted out to the diamond to be greeted by 16 Cardinals Hall of Famers. Hell need more to get his name in the HOF conversation, namely multiple Cy Young award victories and a pivotal role in a Boston World Series championship. That includes 2020, a season shortened by the pandemic. There are some people that feel Wainwright will join his legendary teammates in Cooperstown at some point in time, a trio of Hall of Famers all departing the Cardinals at the same time. Between that, his three Cy Youngs, and eight All-Star appearances, hes probably punched his ticket even before getting to 200 wins (hes at 187). Hes pitched for five teams in two different leagues, which is unusual for a pitcher with such a successful resume. Your email address will not be published. Jansens 30 saves have pushed him to 14th on the all-time list, five away from the next rung and 26 away from cracking the top 10. At least hes in better shape than 31-year-old Freddie Freeman (41.8/32.1/37.0, +1.5 JAWS), who only recently surpassed last years 3.3 WAR. Adam Wainwright 141-80, 3.23 ERA, 1,547 strikeouts, 124 adjusted ERA 3x All-Star, 2 Gold Gloves, 2 rings Injuries have plagued Adam Wainwright more than the other pitchers on this list; he's going to be 36 in a few months and he's logged just 1,800 innings due to Tommy John surgery (2011) and an Achilles tendon rupture (2015). After the divorce, his mother, Nancy, became a real estate agent and raised the boys on her own. All of the starters have a JAWS of at least 42.0; roughly speaking, thats the equivalent of seven six-win seasons, a point at which I start to take mid-career pitchers seriously. Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright are back together, and they will start Opening Day together for the first time since 2009 on Thursday. The slugger hit .274 with 32 homers and 97 RBIs in 160 games last year. Adam Wainwright's age is 41. Were just giving him a little extra time in between appearances to rebound from his first time out. Please contact us. The good news is that even with a modest 2.6 WAR this year, hes in his seventh-best season and can make tracks towards the third base peak standard (43.1 WAR). Don't miss out - sign up for our newsletters! In his final inning, Wainwright didnt touch higher than 85 mph. Adam Wainwright has a big decision to make this offseason. MLB starting pitcher who won a World Series Championship with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006 and was a member of the Cardinals . Adam Wainwright Deserves Serious Hall of Fame Consideration While Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina are already committed to retirement, what becomes of star pitcher Adam Wainwright remains a question for St. Louis fans. Adam Wainwright will return for his 19th season with the. Perhaps a new metric will be devised that paints Wainwright in an extraordinary new lightI cant really imagine what said metric would be, but Yadier Molinas career FanGraphs WAR shot up 18.4 wins in one day on which meaningful baseball games werent even played, so I am not going to dismiss the possibility hastily. 2020 has given us many. It goes something like this . Given the way hes been pitching as of late, thats certainly not farfetched. Wainwright did not factor into the decision, allowing five runs on four hits in four innings. Injuries have me dubious that Chris Sale will ever accumulate the WAR necessary to reach the Cooperstown threshold, but hes only barely going to be 33 come Opening Day, so Im not closing the book just yet. He struck out 14 in his MLB debut and it seemed evident that he and Bryce Harper were going to lead the team to not only a World Series championship, but multiple titles. Hes also climbed from 12th to ninth in saves (372) and should easily move past Joe Nathan (377) and Dennis Eckersley (390) within the next year. His 2.2 WAR, meanwhile, edged him closer to the career standard (73.3). Hes undergone Tommy John surgery, and his career total of 76 wins is underwhelming. Now his current difficulties are being downplayed because the leg/glute tightness, the back spasms, the finger. MILWAUKEE Adam Wainwright joins Hall of Famer Bob Gibson as the only St. Louis Cardinals' pitchers with 2,000 strikeouts, fanning Milwaukee's Luis Urias in the fourth inning. Outside of Clayton Kershaw, he may be the most dominant pitcher in the game right now; FanGraphs credits Scherzer with more WAR than any non-Kershaw pitcher (25.9) since 2013. That seems to be a pretty good baseline.. May need surgery, but were not close to making any kind of decision on that. However, their overall record forced the Cards to play a Wild Card series against Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies. Prices highlights include a 2012 Cy Young award, two ERA titles, and five 200-strikeout seasons. He has similar numbers (albeit slightly worse) than Roy Halladay. Sometimes a little spring-training soreness is nothing more than a little spring-training soreness. Adam's parents had a rocky marriage, and they split up when he was around seven years old. Of the four active starters who are within hailing distance of the JAWS standard (61.1), none has done more to help himself in 2021 than Scherzer, who has been stellar in his age-36 season, pitching to a 2.40 ERA and 3.12 FIP in 146 innings for the Nationals and Dodgers. Hey, at least the Cardinals added a proven, quality big-league starting pitcher this past offseason. This is a veteran, and he knows what he needs to do. For this dispatch, Ill first turn my attention to the pitchers, then backtrack to cover a handful of others position players and pitchers in a more lightning-round fashion. What injury? No Cy's (albeit 4 top 3 finishes). Adam Wainwright on Jason Isringhausen entering Cardinals Hall of Fame 3rd stage: Well, his arm hasnt rebounded the way we were hoping for, so were just going to shut him down and see how he responds. Sure there are. Adam WainWright's MLB stats are Win-loss record 195-115, Earned run average 3.35 and Strikeouts 2,142. St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright's Hall of Fame chances could be dampened by circumstances out of his control. His cutter was next, dropping from his 2022 average of 84.3 mph to 80.8 mph, and his curveball decreased from 72.9 mph to 70.2 mph.. Actually, it's two starting pitchers: Jack Flaherty and Adam Wainwright. MILWAUKEE -- Adam Wainwright joined Hall of Famer Bob Gibson as the only St. Louis Cardinals pitchers with 2,000 strikeouts, fanning Milwaukee's Luis Uras in the fourth inning Thursday. He missed large chunks of his playing career due to injuries, and while this has not always been a deal-breaker for Cooperstown, Wainwrights perfectly fine peak was hardly that of go-to example Sandy Koufax. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. What a different story we could be telling about 'Waino' had he stayed in Atlanta. Scherzer and Hernandez are among a group of pitchers at somewhat similar points in their potential Hall of Fame paths; Verlander, Cole Hamels, Zack Greinke, Adam Wainwright and Jon Lester are in . With eight All-Star selections, three Cy Young awards, and a World Series ring, Kershaw is probably a lock for election already, but reaching and surpassing some major career milestones would further elevate him in the pantheon. Rile people up.. Adam Wainwright is the greatest St. Louis Cardinals pitcher since Bob Gibson, and arguably the greatest St. Louis Cardinals pitcher in history other than Bob Gibson. Your login session has expired. It may rile up some traditionalists who are married to the idea pitchers must win 300 games and strike out 3,000 batters to be considered Hall-worthy. But even if we throw 2020 out, Flaherty averaged only 57 innings of work over the last two years. A couple of guys are sore but its OK, everything is fine, nothing to worry about, dont know why the media is making a fuss over this, were just being careful, just holding the pitcher back by a day to be on the safe side, hes looking great, hes getting his work in, theres no need to push it. Build your customFanSided Daily email newsletter with news and analysis onSt. Louis Cardinals and all your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and more. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) Adam Wainwright was one of many players lucky enough to have shared a clubhouse with Scott Rolen, the newest member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.. Adam Wainwright has the second-most WAR of any Cardinals pitcher all-time (44.5). Cardinals Milestones for Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina in 2022 5th stage: 60-day IL. Its a shame because he was off to a great start to his season, with 1.9 WAR and a 195 OPS+ in just 36 games. This is a question that has been frequently raised throughout the season as the Cardinals' 'Big Three' (Pujols, Wainwright, Molina) were constantly praised by St. Louis fans. Ive lost track. His 2011 season, in which he went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and led the league in a slew of categories wins, ERA, games started, innings pitched, strikeouts, WHIP, adjusted ERA, and hits allowed per nine innings earned him a distinction that hadnt been accomplished since Roger Clemens in 1986. Alas, just before the All-Star break, the 33-year-old southpaw landed on the injured list due to inflammation in his left forearm and hasnt even gotten to the point of a rehab stint yet after suffering a setback in late July. Upon losing in the Wild Card round, the franchise's attention shifted to the offseason and what will happen to some of their aging players. Strikeouts are booming like never before. This is the first time since 2010 that all three are in . Adam Wainwrights hybrid JAWS of 41.6 is a fair amount behind that of Dwight Gooden, and closing a 6.4 point gap is going to be a tall order. Can Adam Wainwright join St. Louis Cardinals teammates in Hall of Fame? All WAR (and WPA) figures here refer to the Baseball Reference version, unless otherwise indicated. But if it wasn't for . While Pujols and Molina are guaranteed to enter the Hall of Fame, Wainwright's case is a tricky one to say the least. Here's how WBC offenses stack up with MLB's best, Scherzer tries to test pitch clock limits, gets balk, Jays 'playing it safe' after Guerrero tweaks knee, PitchCom-tipping: Loud device leaks Twins calls, Eflin's first start after $40M deal impresses Rays, Rangers' Leclerc to miss WBC with neck injury, Rockies' Rodgers may need surgery, '23 at risk, Rojas to withdraw from WBC, stay with Dodgers. By Hybrid JAWS, Adam Wainwright is, currently, the 118th greatest starting pitcher in Major League Baseball history. Theres a good chance no pitcher will again crack the 300-win plateau, a mark that has been achieved 24 times throughout the sports history. Guerrero had an RBI single during the first inning in his lone at-bat. Were not sure if hell be ready by Opening Day, but at this point our priority is to take care of this now so we can have him available for virtually the entire season. Wainwright is a Hall of Fame person, and a very good pitcher. I found The two-time NL Cy Young winner began his season by reeling off one of the most amazing runs of any pitcher in recent memory, posting an 0.50 ERA and 0.87 FIP through his first 12 starts. DUNEDIN., Fla. Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. left the spring training game against Tampa Bay with right knee discomfort. Among those who are retired and eligible for Cooperstown, the 65th greatest starter of all-time is actually a pretty sufficiently big nameDwight Gooden. All stats used here were sourced from FanGraphs, Baseball Reference, Stathead, Bill James Online, Fielding Bible, Baseball Prospectus, Baseball Savant, Brooks Baseball Net and Spotrac. Before going down, he made solid progress towards the 200-win and 3,000 strikeout milestones; hes at 184 and 2,653, respectively, the latter thanks to a 30.1% strikeout rate, his best since 2016. He produced the worst set of metrics in a full season in his career. However, the future Cardinals Hall of Famer is coming off a 2022 season in which he lost velocity, suffered a decline in swing-and-miss stuff and faded to a 17.8 percent strikeout rate. We use cookies to improve your experience. So basically what Im saying is that if Adam Wainwright has a once-every-seventy-five-years season, he should probably make it into Cooperstown. . While it seems impossible to envision it now, Wainwright was not always a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. Hell get some work in between now and then, and hopefully that will get him on track. As if on schedule, we have our first spring-training round of Is Anything Wrong? with the pitcher. Carlos Correa, Shortstop(32.7 Career WAR | 32.7 7-Year Peak WAR | 32.7 JAWS, +6.7 JAWS) Between some favorable changes to his DRS totals and an AL-leading 5.9 WAR (surpassed by Ohtani's two-way total of 7.7), the 26-year-old Correa has boosted his JAWS more than any position player. Hes got three seasons of 3.0 WAR or less as part of his peak score and has a good shot at continuing his big strides in the next few years. The hot air balloon . Sale went two years and a day between major league outings due to elbow inflammation, a flexor tendon strain, and Tommy John surgery, but hes made a solid return so far, with a 2.53 ERA and 27.9% strikeout rate through four starts. Adam Wainwright Future Hall of Fame Candidates: N.L. All Wins Above Replacement and Wins Above Average data comes . Gibson, who died last October, finished with 3,117. Thats an average of 174 innings per year. Despite dealing with shoulder soreness and some rough stretches, Greinke the active leader in JAWS has pitched an AL-high 159.2 innings, though he will probably get overtaken after landing on the COVID-19 IL on Tuesday. If he misses the first week or so, no big deal. JAWS and peak (WAR7) gains are the major drivers of this, but positional standards, traditional milestones, and ordinal rankings are considerations as well. Actually, its two starting pitchers: Jack Flaherty and Adam Wainwright. The wins, strikeouts, ERA and innings were his best since 2014, which appeared to be the last full year of his peak. Wainwright had won nine of 10 decisions coming in. Kimbrel has an option for next year, which I think is likely to be exercised, so he wont be a free agent until 2023. Follow Cody Swartz on Twitter (@cbswartz5). Throughout his career, Wainwright has won a World Series and has been selected to the All-Star game three times. 2nd stage: Everything is still on track. Its an unfortunate injury that was sustained to of all places his throwing shoulder. . For relievers, Im using the WAR-and-WPA hybrid stat via which Ive examined recent candidates such as Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, and Billy Wagner. This year, however, the biggest stars of Opening Day will be three players in Cardinals jerseys who all have legitimate shots of someday being in baseball's Hall of Fame themselves. This will undoubtedly hurt Wainwright's bid for the Hall of Fame. Wainwright threw his sinker, cutter and curveball the most, and the velocity on all three pitches measured a significant drop-off from last season. Interestingly enough, he missed the entire 2011 season for the world champion St. Louis Cardinals, but he did play an integral role as a closer in the 2006 playoffs, throwing 9.2 scoreless innings in the playoffs. Enter your email address to get a new one. Adam Wainwright Contract, Stats, Hall of Fame, Age, Jersey Wainwright could become the sixth to add the Hall of Fame to their resume. I am a big fan, not as a universal absolute but as a general guideline, of the Jay Jaffe JAWS system, a thing I have mentioned repeatedly in my writing, though I also prefer to use a hybrid model which incorporates a players career performance and his seven best individual seasons (his peak) as measured not only by Baseball Reference but by FanGraphs (in most non-catcher cases, over the course of a career, this doesnt make a huge difference, but in the most discussed cases, the margins are so thin that I am happy to look at as much data as possible). His sinker averaged 84.9 mph, a 3.7 percent decrease from 2022. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted Flaherty is calm. But, while neither was young, per se, by baseball standards (it was deGroms age-30 season and Scherzers age-33), there is a big leap to get to Adam Wainwrights age-40 season which looms ahead. Bernie On The Cardinals: Wainwright and Flaherty In Spring Training As a result, Ive chosen not to include him on this article. 156-111, 3.18 ERA, 2,286 strikeouts, 126 adjusted ERA. We've sent an email with instructions to create a new password. Yadier Molina's Hall of Fame case is perplexing, but here's why the