Adam Wainwright is ready to play ball.
His recovery from Tommy John surgery earlier this year is not only impressive, but it could actually improve his game. The injuries he sustained happened over time, so the elbow reconstruction has the potential to leave him pitching harder than he did in the few years before he started feeling pain in early 2011. Even if it doesn’t improve his pitching, it’s great to know that St. Louis Cardinals haven’t lost him for the 2012 season.
It had to have been hard for Wainwright to sit out and watch the Cardinals all last season, knowing that it could take well over a year for him to be back in the game. Recovery could have taken several more months, and that still would’ve been normal for the procedure he had done. But right at a year later, it looks like he’s recovering well, and even ahead of schedule by some estimates.
He’s with the Cards now in Jupiter, Fla., for spring training, and he doesn’t seem worried that he’s going to have any setbacks. Hopefully, he won’t. So far, so good; he’s been pitching, as he says, with 80-90 percent effort and all seems well at this point. By the time the regular season starts, it’ll be clear whether he’s going to be able to give his 100 percent without creating further injuries.
Right now, it looks like Wainwright is not only close to being able to give 100 percent, but he’s actually shaping up to be the new face of the Cardinals. His picture has replaced Albert Pujols’ over Roger Dean Stadium, and, of course, the whole club seems to think highly of the starting pitcher. He’s getting a lot of support and being welcomed back with open arms, to say the least.
After missing out on a season that ended with the Cardinals winning the World Series, Wainwright has more reason than anyone to want to help make it happen again this year. And if he can throw even better than before due to his surgery, then his year away will definitely have been worth the wait. The Cards need him now more than ever.
Angela Woods is a fan of St. Louis Cardinals baseball. She has family in Missouri and is planning to make it to at least one game in 2012. (Hopefully more.)