Storyline: Adam Wainwright’s recipe for success: throw off-speed stuff and stay away from the middle of the plate.
Last Saturday night St. Louis Cardinals’ pitcher Adam Wainwright was straight-up dealing. I saw it first-hand at Busch Stadium.
Adam Wainwright (photo, zimbio.com)
In by far his most impressive outing of the season the 34-year-old surrendered just three hits, allowed only two walks, didn’t give up a run, and pitched a full nine innings in the Cardinals’ 5-0 shutout win over the Miami Marlins.
Wainwright took a no-hitter into the 6th inning, an effort that was broken up by Adeiny Hechavarria with a double to left center to lead off the inning. That two-bagger came shortly after the gentleman sitting behind me said what you’re never supposed to say: “no-hitter.”
And it was the Marlins’ best hit of the night. Christian Yelich hit a double down the left field line that was fair by a razor’s edge. Hechavarria’s second hit bounced off Wainwright’s shin.
Wainwright was a man on a mission Saturday night. He went into the 9th with the 2-3-4 slots coming to bat for Miami. Wainwright retired Martin Prado and Yelich before getting Marlins’ slugger and Home Run Derby champion, Giancarlo Stanton, to ground out to short for the shutout.
What an outing for Waino! But what’s truly remarkable is Wainwright’s change of play. Make that ‘change of fortunes.’
Courtesy: sportingnews.com
Wainwright started off the season on a sour note with a 8.27 ERA, one of the worst in baseball. His early mediocrity was especially evident in an April 16 outing versus the Reds. Wainwright gave up 7 earned runs in just 5.1 innings.
Many sportswriters began to wonder if it was the end of the line for the three-time All-Star. But the old Wainwright seems to be back. He has given up just one earned run in his last 23 innings pitched.
So what has been the secret for the turnaround? It seems to boil down to two crucial factors.
Off-Speed Pitches: When Wainwright was acquired from the Braves in 2005 he had the ability to throw scorching fastballs in the high-90s. But major surgeries (Tommy John in 2011 and Achilles tendon in 2015) have rendered that output unachievable.
Source: fullwindup.com
Wainwright has adapted by adding and improving his off-speed pitches. He has a curveball that has a “I’ll get you to swing on a pitch in the dirt” movement on it. His change-up often has standing there looking for strike three.
Wainwright struggles in games where he abandons the off-speed stuff. When he keeps hitters guessing, as did against Miami, collecting base hits is a difficult task.
Not Being Too Aggressive at Attacking the Zone: Wainwright used to be aggressive at attacking the strike zone. But the surgeries have made that option a more difficult task.
These days success is determined by how many “balls” he throws. Wainwright needs to throw pitches outside the zone—the more, the better.
Early in the season (compared to previous years) too many pitches (the cutter in this case) were up in the zone. See far right. Waino can’t pitch as he did years ago. See far left. (Photo courtesy theimperfectgame.com)
And he did just that on Saturday against Miami. By the time the game was over, Wainwright had thrown 120 pitches, including 46 balls, but walked only two batters. Wainwright was constantly getting batters to chase out of the zone, which resulted in “cans of corn” fly outs (10), a lot of routine groundouts (14), and nearly two innings of strikeouts (5).
That profile is ideal for Wainwright. He needs to be passive in attacking the strike zone, use his remarkable movement to get batters to chase out of the zone, and trust the defense behind him. That’s exactly what he did Saturday night.
Early in the year it appeared that Wainwright’s days were numbered. But now Wainwright is back to pitching at an extraordinary level. Those doubters and haters, who were pretty hard on Waino back in April and May, are gone.
