ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Adam Wainwright may no longer be pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals anymore, but his presence in the sport is still being felt as a broadcaster.
Wainwright is in his first year as a full-time baseball broadcaster, calling nationally-televised games on FOX Sports with Adam Amin, and doing in-studio work with MLB Network.
"I've really enjoyed seeing baseball from all different angles," said Wainwright on KMOX's Total Information A.M. Tuesday. "I've been in the studio with MLB Network, on the broadcast with FOX and from a player's standpoint. Just seeing what a production it is and seeing how many people it takes to get an actual game to the people, it's kind of remarkable. There's so many people that do an incredible job that no one's ever going to hear about."
Wainwright says what has helped him a lot in the transition from baseball player to full-time broadcaster is the help of people around him, like Amin.
"(Amin) has taught me a lot and prepared me for regular season baseball," said Wainwright. "Before this year, I've only done postseason baseball and he's like 'yeah regular season is not like the postseason and so here's what you got to expect.'"
Wainwright's work as a broadcaster gave him have a chance to return to St. Louis for the first time as a broadcaster over the weekend, calling the Cardinals 7-6 win over the Cubs Saturday. Wainwright says he has noticed Cardinals have an excitement level in them at the moment that he didn't see at all last season in his final season as a player or early on in the 2024 season.
"That team is clicking and I'll tell you why, it's because they believe," said Wainwright. "They believe they can win and they believe they are going to win and when you have that belief, that's a dangerous dangerous thing."
Wainwright says he got a text from former teammate Paul Goldschmidt, saying that after Cardinals manager Oli Marmol and bench coach Daniel Descalso were ejected in Milwaukee, Goldschmidt told him there was a belief internally that the team can win the NL Central.
"To hear Goldy say that, I'm an optimist, and I'm always saying things like that, but Goldy doesn't spout out that stuff all the time," said Wainwright, "He believes, that clubhouse believes and you have seen the difference of their play over the last two weeks and they have won almost all the games. They are doing great and I'm proud of them."
It will likely be a while until Wainwright calls another Cardinals game at Busch Stadium for FOX, as the next nationally televised game for FOX at Busch Stadium isn't until Saturday, August 17 when the Los Angeles Dodgers come into town, fans can head to the World Wide Technology Raceway this weekend to listen to Wainwright perform as part of NASCAR's Confluence Music Festival. Wainwright will be on stage Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. to perform right before the Enjoy Illinois 300, which is set to begin at 2:30 p.m. later in the day.