He'll retire with honors and accolades, becoming a fine coach and St. Louis area legend. Adam Wainwright Stats. Hell get some work in between now and then, and hopefully that will get him on track. Or could it be that a lot of this is happening because Wainwright is 41 years old and headed to his 42nd birthday on Aug. 30? As noted above, for the past few election cycles, Ive turned away from reliever JAWS in favor of a hybrid metric using WAR, WPA, and WPA/LI. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. Wainwright was between 38 and 40 years old in this stretch. I highly doubt it. Wainwright, 40, who has played for the Cardinals since reaching the majors in 2005, is a three-time All-Star and twice led the National League in wins (2009 and 2013). Poll : Should Adam Wainwright be in the Hall of Fame? The baseball player is married to Jenny Curry, his starsign is Virgo and he is now 41 years of age. Five years ago, Max Scherzer had no Hall of Fame case. It is possible that he ends up as one of those players who hangs around the ballot for his decade of eligibility, getting a boost because of his time in St. Loius, but the only way he ends up in Cooperstown will be with a ticket. This adds up to a solid career, and one that would be worthy of the Hall of Very Good, but not the Hall of Fame. 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. Always ranking QBs. SUMMARY 2022 Career WAR 1.8 46.7 W 11 195 L 12 117 ERA 3.71 3.38 G 32 457 GS No harm. But if youd told me four years ago when his career looked absolutely left for dead that I would even half-heartedly entertain the notion, I would have doubted that even more. He's a hell of a pitcher and even better human being. 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. by Retrosheet. Wainwright went 41-28 with a 4.58 ERA (an ERA+ of 90, or 10 percent below league average) from 2016 through 2019. Perhaps (I would argue this is more likely) a new narrative arc would emergeWainwright, say, grits through physical pain to guide the Cardinals to the 2022 World Series and enters a level of folklore which allows voters to look optimistically upon his borderline statistical case (see: Ortiz, David). 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. On Wednesday, I took a swing at a question often asked of me: Which players have helped their Hall of Fame cases the most this year? Were just giving him a little extra time in between appearances to rebound from his first time out. Hes actually been tougher to hit than in any season since 2016, but his 14% walk rate has created more traffic than ever, and hes blown five of 35 save chances, though three of those were in consecutive outings in mid-July, accounting for seven of the 16 earned runs hes allowed. Adam Wainwright Future Hall of Fame Candidates: N.L. . Adam WainWright's MLB stats are Win-loss record 195-115, Earned run average 3.35 and Strikeouts 2,142. As for R-JAWS, hes entered the top 20, but as he approaches both his 34th birthday and free agency, the question of how many more years hell be trusted to handle the ninth inning looms. Ad Choices . Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. The 40-year-old right-hander became the ninth active pitcher with 2,000. There is a trio of starting pitchers not yet Hall-eligible who rank somewhere between Gooden and WainwrightFlix Hernndez, Cole Hamels, and Chris Sale. St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright may have ended a solid career. Adam Wainwright was glad to see Jason Isringhausen enter the Cardinals Hall of Fame: "He had a profound impact on my career and helped me dramatically." Even though three different physical problems were cited to explain Wainwrights plummeting velocity and ineffective pitching? He just turned 30 on August 7, and hes already fifth in JAWS and third in peak among center fielders, but this has been largely a lost year due to a right calf strain thats already required the longest recovery time in at least six years. Actually, it's two starting pitchers: Jack Flaherty and Adam Wainwright. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted 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). Hey, at least the Cardinals added a proven, quality big-league starting pitcher this past offseason. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER. Prices highlights include a 2012 Cy Young award, two ERA titles, and five 200-strikeout seasons. Adam Wainwright Position: Pitcher Bats: Right Throws: Right 6-7 , 230lb (201cm, 104kg) Team: St. Louis Cardinals (majors) More bio, uniform, draft, salary info 3x All-Star 2006 World Series 2x Gold Glove Silver Slugger 60 50 Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. I found One Wainwright is a lot closer to establishing than perhaps even he realizes. 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. Wainwright was a three time All Star and two time Gold Glove winner, finishing in the top three of the NL Cy Young vote four times. Follow Cody Swartz on Twitter (@cbswartz5). Adam Wainwright will make history as he will become the seventh pitcher in St. Louis Cardinals history to start a game after his 41st birthday. Albert Pujols is, barring something unforseen, going to easily sail into the National Baseball Hall of FameI always feel the need to add a caveat since uncodified steroid accusations have already kept one of the few modern hitters unreservedly superior to Pujols out of the Hall of Fame, though seeing David Ortiz make it does give me hope that Albert Pujols being a nice guy that everyone in baseball media seems to like would provide sufficient cushion to whatever random conjecture somebody wants to throw out into the discourse. We always prefer to go the surgery route as the last possible resort. Sabathia has largely been a disappointment since signing a nine-figure extension with the team, and he likely wont be retained when his contract expires after this season. It happens a lot. Chapman notched his 300th save on August 26, but hes had an unimpressive season, walking 16.2% of hitters en route to a 3.68 ERA and 4.16, all career worsts. DRS changes, injuries, and the shortened season have dealt the slugging third basemans case a set of blows in recent years, making it even harder to overcome his late start. 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. 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 . JAWS and peak (WAR7) gains are the major drivers of this, but positional standards, traditional milestones, and ordinal rankings are considerations as well. Wins may not matter as much these days, but his 195 wins would make him just the seventh player to be inducted as a starting pitcher with fewer than 200 victories. He had one brother, Trey, who was seven years his senior. Sometimes a little spring-training soreness is nothing more than a little spring-training soreness. Even if he does that, hes well short of the JAWS standard or even the 55.7 career WAR of David Ortiz, plus he has the stigma of his 2013 PED suspension to overcome. Adam Wainwright will return for his 19th season with the. (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.. Now, Adam Wainwright at any age, while once one of the best pitchers in the sport, never put a season quite that good. Winnowing the 180/2,000/3.40/350/2,300 field down to just wild card-era pitchers makes for an even more exclusive group: Wainwright, Scherzer, Verlander, Kershaw, Clemens plus Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay and Pedro Martinez. The contact rate against him on pitches in the strike zone last season 91 percent was the highest against him during his 17-season MLB career. And if the Sox do pick up his option, he is by no means a lock to pass Eckersley in saves next year if Hendriks gets most of the chances. What a different story we could be telling about 'Waino' had he stayed in Atlanta. Its available on your preferred podcast platform. Even in the he falls short but not short enough to not make it hypothetical, the easiest path is likely for Adam Wainwright to post 8.1 WAR under both methods. Your email address will not be published. Perhaps his national profile and general likability increases due to his seemingly inevitable second act as a broadcasterWainwright received rave reviews as a postseason broadcaster last yearand this media visibility helps him in a media-driven contest such as Hall of Fame balloting. Sales unconventional windup seems to leave open the idea of Tommy John surgery or at least a serious injury, but he has averaged 30 starts per season since entering the rotation in 12. Adam Wainwright. Once Molina has been. This is the first time since 2010 that all three are in . Can Adam Wainwright join St. Louis Cardinals teammates in Hall of Fame? All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. The Cardinals looked like one of the best teams in the National League throughout the 2022 regular season, finishing with a record of 93-69, winning the NL Central Division in the process. Are there baseball seasons good enough to get Adam Wainwright past Dwight Gooden? Madison Bumgarner is still just 27 years old, but hes already etched his name into baseball lore as one of the greatest big-game pitchers of all-time. The veteran right-hander is the last remaining . 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. The 40-year-old right-hander became the ninth active pitcher with 2,000. 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. Aroldis Chapman (18.5 WAR | 19.9 WPA | 12.0 WPA/LI | 16.8 R-JAWS, +0.6 R-JAWS). We use cookies to improve your experience. He was the first pitcher aged 39 or older since Mike Mussina in 2008 to throw at least 200 innings with an ERA+ of 125 or better. You may have created an account with another Rogers Media account that can be used to sign in here. After posting a 3.84 expected ERA in 2022, that metric jumped to 4.53 last season. 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. I wouldnt expect Wainwright to be at his best at this stage. But theres no alarm. Annual promotional dates for the Purina Pooches in the Ballpark game and Edward Jones Cardinals Hall of Fame Weekend are scheduled for April 30 and August 26-28, respectively. 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. (approx 1 - 2 per week). Those skills may eventually result in a spot in the Hall of Fame. 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. He has put together a solid career, posting a 193-114 record with a 3.34 ERA and a 1.208 WHiP over his 2538.2 innings . Heres what Bowden wrote: Mozeliak was cautious in his comments and reminded me that the right-hander threw only 36 innings last year. While he has never won a Cy Young Award, he was in the top 3 on four occasions. But Adam Wainwright's story also isn't complete. Seconds later, told his numbers stack up well to wild card-era pitchers who are either already enshrined or have solid Hall of Fame cases, the famously good-natured Wainwright a night removed from saying he struck out Jeff McNeil looking to leave the bases loaded because I like nostalgia and he wanted to give Mets fans what they want grinned again. His monitor score is only an 87. 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.