JUPITER, Fla. — Adam Wainwright, who was set to begin his final MLB season for the seventh time in his 18-year career as a starter on the Cardinals’ opening day, will instead be on the injured list after suffering a groin strain.
Manager Oliver Marmol confirmed Wainwright’s injury Thursday morning before the Cardinals faced the Yankees in spring training. When asked about his concerns about the groin injury, Marmol said the veteran pitcher will likely miss “several weeks” after sustaining the injury in the weight room Tuesday before Team USA faced Japan in the World Baseball Classic championship game.
Wainwright, 41, expressed disappointment at opening the season in the IL and not being able to play against the Blue Jays at Busch Stadium on March 30.
“It’s a bit of a shame because I would have liked to have served the crowd one more time on opening day,” Wainwright said. “My opening day will be a few weeks later. We’ll see when that is.”
Cardinals President John Mozeliak said imaging done on Wainwright’s groin revealed a five-grade strain “between 1 and 2,” adding, “That’s not surprising when you hear it’s a strain.” Mozeliak said the organization’s depth of pitching, namely with standout Jake Woodford, should help St. Louis weather the loss of Wainwright over the next few weeks.
“It’s frustrating to lose a starting pitcher at any point during spring training, but at the end [Wainwright] hopefully can put himself in a position where it’s positive for us,” Mozeliak said. “If you look at how [Woodford] Opened for us in the spring, he certainly deserved a place. It just shows you how competitive a camp we had was. In the end we feel like we’ll survive this, but it’s certainly disappointing.”
Wainwright said he sustained the injury doing split squats; He was on his third set of leg strengthening when he felt strain in his groin. The really annoying part, Wainwright added, was that his legs had been feeling better than ever for the past few days. A series of back spasms in early February had left him with weakness in his right leg and hampered his ability to push off the rubber when throwing.
“I knew it wasn’t great when it happened because I’ve been through quite a few injuries and I know how it feels when you overwork a muscle,” said Wainwright, who realized he was wearing an electrical muscle stimulator underneath his USA jersey on Tuesday in hopes of mending the injury. “I was hoping it wasn’t [serious]. … It could be a lot worse; It’s just a burden and we’ll be out for a couple of weeks.”
Marmol also confirmed Wainwright was his pick to start for the Cardinals on Opening Day. The veteran right-hander is 3-2 undecided in his previous six opening-day starts. Last season, he threw six innings without a goal, conceding just five goals and scoring six in the Cards’ win over the Pirates.
Marmol said the team will be formulating plans for an Opening Day starter by Friday, when MLB will announce all 30 starting pitchers for Opening Day. Miles Mikolas — the team’s Opening Day starter in 2019 — is the favorite to lead the Cardinals against Toronto. Mikolas, who made two appearances for Team USA in the WBC, will play the Nats in Friday’s Grapefruit League game. The two-time All-Star would then have six days to prepare for a possible start in the March 30 opener.
“Luckily, it was just me who went down,” Wainwright said. “Jack [Flaherty] is back steven [Matz] is back Jordan [Montgomery] is back and Miles [Mikolas] is back. And Woody deserves it for hitting it great this spring. I hope he gets this opportunity because he deserves it. Because when you line up like him, there’s always a way of taking care of itself.”
Wainwright was 11-12 last season, the first full season he ended with a career losing record. The problem was a poor finish as he went 2-4 with two no decisions and a 6.69 ERA down the stretch. Wainwright dropped his last three decisions, including a 4 2/3 inning outing that gave the Pirates six earned runs in the final game of the regular season at Busch Stadium.
After failing to make the US Olympic qualifying team in 2004, Wainwright was eager to play for Team USA in the WBC. He has done well in his two games, claiming victories over Britain and Cuba. Wainwright said he was delighted to see 17 Cardinals play in the WBC.
“Man, I’ll tell you what: Our organization is in a great place,” Wainwright said. “I think we’re going to have a great season. We have to come first when they give me the reins back and then we’ll move on. I really love our young lads.”
Wainwright has 195 career wins — all with the Cardinals. One of his stated goals for returning this season was to surpass Jesse Haines’ 210 wins and move up to second place in franchise history behind only Bob Gibson (251). Wainwright teamed with catcher Yadier Molina in 2022 to set the NL/AL record for starts (328) and wins (213) under one battery. Wainwright said he thinks the starting record could potentially stand the test of time because of the durability and compatibility required between a pitcher and a catcher over an extended period of time.
Marmol said he believes Wainwright will travel back to St. Louis with the team if it pauses training camp Monday night. Wainwright will likely need a stint in rehab before making it back to the MLB level, the manager said.
“You don’t go back to zero [with conditioning]”You’re not going back where you left off either,” Marmol said. “So there’s going to be some form of build-up to get him back to that 85 pitch mark or whatever the case may be. He will use his time appropriately. He’s done [a comeback from injury] before, and he’ll be in a good place when he comes back.”