Adam Wainwright

Adam Wainwright

Adam Parrish Wainwright (born August 30, 1981), nicknamed "Waino" and "Uncle Charlie", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who spent his entire 18-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Atlanta Braves selected him 29th overall in the first round of the 2000 amateur draft from Glynn Academy in Brunswick, Georgia. His performance in the minor leagues made him one of the Braves' top pitching prospects. After the 2003 season, the Braves traded him to the Cardinals for outfielder J. D. Drew. Wainwright made his MLB debut on September 11, 2005, and spent the rest of the season as a relief pitcher. The next year, he briefly assumed closer duties, saving the series-clinching games of the 2006 National League Championship Series and the 2006 World Series over the Detroit Tigers. In 2007, he returned to starting pitching, a role in which he would remain for the rest of his career. He missed the 2011 season due to Tommy John surgery, but emerged as an ace, leading the National League multiple times in wins, innings pitched, and games started. He also has multiple top-ten finishes in earned run average, strikeouts, walks plus hits per inning pitched, and complete games. In 2014, Wainwright became the first pitcher in Major League history to post nine of his first 18 starts with seven innings pitched and no runs allowed. In his career, Wainwright won 200 games, received three All-Star selections and two Gold Glove Awards, and finished in the top three in the Cy Young Award balloting four times. With 2,202 career strikeouts, Wainwright is second to Bob Gibson (3,117) in Cardinals franchise history. Wainwright and longtime teammate Yadier Molina are the most successful battery in Major League history, having both the most wins and starts together. On September 18, 2023, he became the third Cardinals' pitcher to win 200 games, joining Bob Gibson (251), and Jesse Haines (210), and the 122nd in baseball history. With three strikeouts, he also became the 66th pitcher in baseball history with at least 2,200 strikeouts.

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