Of the 616 pitchers who appeared on MLB's Statcast leaderboards for the 2021 season, Adam Wainwright ranked in the third percentile — yes, the number three — in terms of average fastball velocity. He was also one of just five pitchers — joining Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, Walker Buehler and Julio Urias — with at least 15 wins, 150 strikeouts and a sub-3.50 ERA.
Velocity isn't everything, and that's something that Wainwright is well aware of. In his age-39 season, which turned out to be one of the finest of his long career, he wasn't expecting to find the arm strength that many of the game's young fireballers possess. And even for those who could reach the high 90s and triple digits with relative ease, which is becoming more common in today's game than ever before, Wainwright sees several of them constantly cycling between the minors and the majors, struggling to retain an entrenched role in a big league rotation.
If you're one of those struggling fireballers, this is for you. Speaking with David Cone on Jomboy Media's new "Toeing the Slab" podcast, focused on all things pitching, Wainwright revealed a helpful secret that he feels is a lost art despite its simplicity. All you have to do, says the three-time All-Star and four-time top-three Cy Young candidate, is learn how to play catch.
"Here's where it starts. It starts with a game of catch. There's so many guys I see now across the league just playing fetch, and not playing catch," Wainwright said. "They're just worried about how hard they can throw it and how far they can throw it. There's nobody hitting each other in the chest anymore and picking little fine spots, picking the 'C' on the jersey of the Cardinals instead of throwing to this empty space all around, and hopefully they can jump and catch it. You know, when you learn how to play catch, that's the first part of learning how to be a good pitcher."
What exactly goes into learning how to play catch? Something so easy actually requires a lot of focus, Wainwright explains, and every little detail can make a difference.
"I think a realization that every pitch matters. Every throw that I'm gonna throw matters. I'm gonna be intentional about getting better today with this game of catch," Wainwright said. "That was something that Chris Carpenter taught me a long time ago. There's no wasted throws. Are you out here just kind of lobbing it around just trying to get loose? Or are you actually trying to get better today?
Listen to St. Louis sports talk now on Audacy and shop the latest Cardinals team gear
"And I think the mindset is, I'm going to get better today. You're not just heaving it. You're not just firing it all around, two-hopping from 50 feet and throwing it in the stands from 200 feet. There's an intentionality about every single throw that you have, locating every single throw that you have, and when you start small like that, it translates onto the field and you start being able to make pitches better."
Of course, once you move past the stage of having an effective game of catch — I can't believe I've been having catch with my family and friends "incorrectly" this whole time — there are other techniques that you can use to your advantage. One interesting tactic that Wainwright and Cone agreed on? Instead of trying to avoid your opponents' hot zones in the batter's box, seek them out.
"Pitching to the hitter's strengths is another strategy. A guy who's a good fastball hitter on the inside corner, it's like, 'okay, hit this one,'" Cone said. "Chase him in there a little bit rather than just constantly throwing him off-speed down and away and trying to go soft and get him to chase and stay away from his strength. To me, it's important to challenge his strength, especially if it's your strength. And if you're banging heads, like Adam said, pitching to the hitters' strengths is a good strategy and really can get into the hitters heads as well."
Perhaps it's this mind set that has allowed Wainwright to dominate feared sluggers like Giancarlo Stanton (0-12, 5 K) and Javier Baez (5-40, 0 HR, 13 K), and ditto for Cone thriving against names like Don Mattingly (1-17) and Carlos Delgado (6-43, 18 K).
Forgoing velocity to focus on pinpoint control... and then using that pinpoint control to challenge the hitters where they're at their best? Sometimes, baseball is a weird sport.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram