In an Era of Throwers, a Pitcher Remains
The New York Times
Still an ace at 40, Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals is having his best season in years. His secret? “It starts with a game of catch.”
Adam Wainwright is having fun, as expected from a 40-year-old pitcher in a renaissance season. More pointedly, though, he made a decision to have fun six months ago, back in spring training, when his schedule could have annoyed him.
For three consecutive starts, Wainwright, the stalwart right-hander for the St. Louis Cardinals, found himself matched against the same opponent, the Houston Astros. Not a big problem, really, but still inconvenient — repeatedly facing the same hitters, he said, might have robbed him of mystery and led to allowing a lot of hits.
Then Wainwright considered the wondrous possibilities of his job. He throws four pitches — a sinking fastball, a cutter, a changeup and a knockout curveball — and, of course, he can vary their locations. With so many looks at the same hitters, he would overload their internal hard drives and scramble their scouting reports on him. He would toy with them.
