By Chris Brown / STL Baseball Today | @cbrown_STLBBT | Feb. 21, 2016, 8:04 pm CT
By Flickr user Harsh1.0 / CC Image / No changes made
Barring any injury or setback, veteran right-hander Adam Wainwright is in line get the ball for his fourth consecutive Opening Day start on April 3 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, manager Mike Matheny announced prior to the team’s Sunday workout.
“I’d say it’s pretty likely,” Matheny told reporters, including MLB.com’s Barry Bloom. “He’s our guy. I mean, there’s no doubt about it. We’ve got to see how the spring goes, any setbacks, any things that happen that takes us off our normal course. But this guy’s the leader of our staff. He means so much to our club in a lot of regards. He leads well.”
Wainwright suffered a torn Achilles in late April last season, but, despite being ruled out for the entire year, the 34-year-old returned on September 30 and made three relief appearances, surrendering one run over three innings of work.
The unofficial announcement comes as little surprise, especially considering the departure of veteran righty John Lackey to the Cubs and the absence of Lance Lynn, who had Tommy John surgery this offseason.
In his last full season, 2014, Wainwright posted a 20-9 record with a 2.38 ERA across 32 starts. From 2012-2014, the staff ace pitched to a 53-31 record with a 3.05 ERA over 667 1/3 frames.
For his part, Wainwright took the news in stride, asking reporters, including Brian Stull of STL Baseball Weekly, to “pump the breaks” until the news is more formally announced.
“It’d be a great honor–it’d be a tremendous honor,” he said. “It’s something that I’ve tried to get ready for, tried to prepare myself for, compete for, for a long time.”
