(Busch Stadium) Earlier this week, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright took to social media to respond to a fan who questioned if was still the ace of the staff. “Dear Everyone…Remain calm please, I will right the ship. Sincerely, Uncle Charlie” read the post.
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Saturday was the first start for the right-hander since then and after three scoreless innings, Wainwright allowed seven runs before his exit after 5.1 innings pitched.
“There’s not a whole lot of good things I can say about it, is there–I was given another big lead and I blew it again,” said Wainwright afterwards. “The only way I can look at in a positive light is the first three or four innings, I was pretty crisp and I need to draw off of that. About the 5th, I started falling into some old habits again. Three or four good innings today hopefully leads to six or seven–maybe eight next time. We’ll see where that goes from there.”
It’s not just one pitch that is causing problems, the right-hander expressed frustration with his curveball, cutter, and fastball.
“The ball comes out really nice sometimes,” said Wainwright. “The ball’s that I stay behind and top of the ball. The curveballs I stay on top of, in front of–they snap off really nice. The other ones are kind of rolling in there again, there’s too much side to side. My cutter’s doing the same thing. It’s too loopy, it’s too big. My fastball found the middle of the plate a lot in those last couple of innings.
“Listen, you throw the ball down the middle of the plate these big league hitters are going to punish you,” he continued. “I’ve made more mistakes these first three games than I have in entire seasons, I feel like. The only way I’m not going to come out of this is if I get down on myself and start pouting around about it. I will come out of this and I don’t care what all those Twitter people out there are calling for my retirement and all that. I don’t know how many times I have to tell people to relax, because you pitch a few games like this you don’t really deserve to tell people to relax. What I will and can say, is that I will come out of this. I will be a very good pitcher, I’m just not there right now.”
Dear everyone…. Remain calm please. I will right the ship. Sincerely, Uncle Charlie https://t.co/kuyc6dErTv
Article continues after sponsor message— Adam Wainwright (@UncleCharlie50) April 15, 2016
Traditionally, Wainwright has very light bullpen sessions between starts. He often simulates throwing rather than actually delivering pitches in an effort to conserve those throws for real game action. But that has not been the case of late.
“No, I’ve been going after it in my bullpens trying to replicate game speed,” shared Wainwright. “The first few innings today, I thought I really found it. I’ve just got to do a better job of staying on top of that until things click in–as soon as things click in, I don’t have to be so conscious of every single throw doing these little check points. But right now, I’m having to do it.”
In his three starts this season, Wainwright has allowed a combined 22 hits and 15 runs in 16.1 innings. He has walked nine batters while striking out seven. Could some of those old or bad habits be a result of his Achilles injury last season?
“Well, I don’t know,” answered Wainwright. “I could sit here and tell you it’s all because of that, but I don’t know that and that sounds like an excuse to me. What I do know is I just have to get better.”
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports, Bill Greenblatt/UPI
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