Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright Hopes To Return In 2015

While the St. Louis Cardinals’ have the best record in the MLB, they are still missing the arm of key starter Adam Wainwright.

Adam Wainwright Hopes To Return In 2015

After appearing in four games this season,  superstar Adam Wainwright, who has been arguably the most consistent pitcher on the Cards’ rotation, tore his left Achilles tendon while running out of the batter’s box. On April 30, he received surgery to fix the torn ligament and has since been doing rehab.

Originally, the team claimed that he was likely going to miss anywhere from nine to 12 months, but Wainwright thinks differently. Two months after the surgery, he has currently shed his crutches and is now solely walking with a boot, which puts him ahead of schedule. Needless to say, he has already professed hopes of pitching by the end of the 2015 season.

“I know that I’m working toward the end of the season,” Wainwright told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I don’t know if that will [happen], but we’ll see.”

The ball club was hesitant to say that he would be back for 2016’s spring training, yet Wainwright thinks it is a possibility he could return in 2015. Still, it is important to note that he still needs to get his boot off and do heavy rehab before he even comes close to a mound.

With this said, Wainwright is just one of five big name St. Louis players to be currently on the disabled list. Matt Adams, Jordan Walden, Matt Holliday and Lance Lynn are all missing time, yet the Cards are still a league’s best 43-21. On top of this, they also have to deal with the distraction of this new hacking scandal. So it is interesting to see if the team’s pace will slow down over time.

Even if the claim is overly optimistic, it would not hurt to get Wainwright back at the end of the season. In ten seasons, he is 121-67 with a 2.98 ERA and 1,324 strikeouts.