St. Louis Cardinals: Adam Wainwright continues his impressive spring

If you had Adam Wainwright being the St. Louis Cardinals’ best player this spring, put your hand up.

Now put your hand down.

Few, if any, could have envisioned Wainwright having such a strong start to this spring. He has allowed only four runs in 19 2/3 innings pitched while striking out 20 and walking three. He continued that success with another strong performance Tuesday, throwing 76 pitches in an outing against the Nationals in which he allowed two hits and one run in six innings pitched.

Wainwright, of course, is lined up to be the Cardinals starting pitcher for their home opener. That had come into question this offseason when he was a free agent and there was uncertainty whether he would return or follow Yadier Molina to a new team. But the Cardinals, believing that Wainwright had more left in the tank, brought him back on a one-year deal.

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Wainwright’s success in spring training has proven the organization right, but there is a large difference between spring and regular season appearances. Hitters use the Grapefruit League to fine tune things in their swing and experiment with different ideas.

In the regular season, they will be locked in — especially Christian Yelich and Keston Hiura in a potent Milwaukee Brewers lineup that the Cardinals will see early and often this season. And so will Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Cody Bellinger, among others, who headline the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers teams that will be the Cardinals’ main competition to represent the National League in the World Series.

Still, what Wainwright has done this spring has been nothing short of remarkable, especially since he is nearly two decades into his career. Considering his long sustained period of success with the Cardinals, it would not be surprising if that continues once again in 2021.

Maybe not quite like what he’s done in spring training, though.