ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Adam Wainwright has been arguably the ace of the St. Louis Cardinals for the better part of a decade – taking over from Chris Carpenter and now handing the reigns to Jack Flaherty. And he says there's a lot more coming...
The 40-year-old pitcher, who has been named the home opener starter, continued his terrific spring on Tuesday, allowing just two hits over six innings and striking out seven. He's got a 1.83 ERA in 19.2 innings this spring. But after the game, he really wanted to talk about the Cardinals future rather than his own.
"We've got some great, veteran leadership. We've got Gold Glovers all over the field. We've got some dynamic bats in our lineup," Wainwright says. "But I'm really excited about some of these young guys we got coming up, from a pitching and hitting standpoint."
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But from specifically a pitching standpoint, Wainwright really likes what he's seen from:
Alex Reyes:
"Everybody knows he's my No. 1 pick every year in any competition. I think he's going to be a superstar. I think he's going to be a No. 1 pitcher in the big leagues for a long time."
The 26-year-old former No. 1 prospect in baseball is going to start the season in the bullpen and St. Louis plans to limit him to about 100 innings. But with question marks in the starting rotation, I wouldn't bet against him starting a few games at some point this season.
He's looked dominant at times this spring and has allowed only two runs on four hits in 6.2 innings of work. St. Louis wants to build him up this year to better compete as a starting pitcher in 2022 and stay off the injured list.
Matthew Liberatore
"Just wait, that trade is going to work out just great for us. He's super, super talented, wants it, asks tons of questions, pays attention during the game, is really fun to watch."
The Cardinals current No. 1 pitching prospect age just 21-years-old has impressed the veteran with his desire to learn. Although the minor league season was scratched last year, he's appeared to make a big leap forward looking at spring training numbers. He's got a 1.50 ERA in six innings of work – last year he had a 27.00 ERA after getting hit around in just 1.2 innings.
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Wainwright – ever the optimist – says with these two, Johan Oviedo, Daniel Ponce de Leon, Dakota Hudson and Miles Mikolas are among players in St. Louis's system that can be some of the best pitchers in baseball.
"I think we've got a lot, lot, lot more in the tank than what we've shown this spring. But also in the years going forward there's going to be some special arms, some top-20, top-30 fantasy baseball players are going to get drafted inside that clubhouse from a pitching standpoint. No doubt about it in my mind."
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