The St. Louis Cardinals’ 50 greatest players

Embed from Getty Images

#17 Adam Wainwright

I may be crazy for including Waino so high on this list, but in my opinion he’s one of the best. You should know his story by now, as he has been included on the 28 Man Roster and top ten pitchers list already.

He has been with the team since the very end of the 2005 season and despite missing all of 2011 and most of 2015 to injuries, has been very good over his career in St. Louis.

Wainwright boasts a career record of 121-67, with an ERA of 2.98 (3.11 FIP) and a 35.3 fWAR. Waino also boasts K/9 of 7.60 in his 287 games pitched. That number ranks as the best among the top 30 pitchers, but in almost half the games of the best pitcher this team has ever seen, it needs to be taken as a bit of a distant second.

Wainwright’s 2013 season was highlighted by his 8.16 K/9, 2.55 FIP, and 6.6 fWAR. That was easily Waino’s best season, but it’s not the only really good season he had, as he had a 5.7 fWAR in 2009 and a 5.6 fWAR in 2010. In 2014 Waino had a FIP of 2.88 and a fWAR of 4.8 showing how great he could still be.

Wainwright was off to a great start in 2015 before rupturing his achilles, and then came back in record time to contribute out of the bullpen in the end of the season and playoffs. With a rested arm and resilient will, Wainwright will add to his already great career next season, making a case to move further up this list.

Next: Big Mac