Adam Wainwright Headed To Injured List With Groin Injury

Adam Wainwright, who was supposed to begin his last MLB season as the Cardinals’ Opening Day starter for a seventh time in his 18-year career, will instead open on the injured list after sustaining a groin injury.

Adam Wainwright Headed To Injured List With Groin Injury

Before to the Cardinals’ Spring Training game against the Yankees on Thursday morning, manager Oli Marmol announced Wainwright’s injury. Asked his level of concern about the groyne injury, Marmol said the veteran pitcher is likely to miss “several weeks” after suffering the injury in the weight room on Tuesday prior to Team USA facing Japan in the World Baseball Classic championship game.

Wainwright, 41, expressed disappointment over having to start the season on the injured list and being unable to pitch at Busch Stadium on March 30.

“That sucks a little bit, because I would have loved to pitch in front of the crowd on Opening Day for one more time,” Wainwright said. “My Opening Day will be a couple of weeks later. We’ll see when that is.”

Wainwright claimed he received the injury while doing “split squats”; he was on his third set of the leg-strengthening exercise when he felt a pull in the groin. The truly upsetting part, according to Wainwright, was that his legs had recently begun to feel better than ever. A round of back spasms in early February had left him with weakness in his right leg, and it hampered his ability to push off the rubber when pitching.

“I knew it wasn’t great when it happened, because I’ve been through a few injuries before and I know what it feels like when you strain a muscle,” said Wainwright, who noted that he wore an electrical muscle stimulation machine under his USA uniform Tuesday in hopes of improving the injury. “I was hoping it wasn’t [serious]. … It could be much worse; it’s just a strain and we’ll be out a few weeks.”

“Luckily it’s just me that went down,” said Wainwright. “Jack [Flaherty] is back, Steven [Matz] is back, Jordan [Montgomery] is back and Miles [Mikolas] is back. And Woody deserves it because he pitched great this spring. I hope he gets that opportunity because he deserves it. Because when you pitch like he did, it always has a way of taking care of itself.”

Wainwright was 11-12 last season, the first full season he finished with a losing record in his career. The problem was a poor finish, as he went 2-4 with two no-decisions and a 6.69 ERA down the stretch. Wainwright dropped his final three decisions, including a 4 2/3-inning outing in which he surrendered six earned runs to the Pirates in the final regular-season game at Busch Stadium.
Marmol said he thinks Wainwright will travel with the team back to St. Louis when it breaks training camp on Monday night. Wainwright will likely need a rehab stint before pitching again at the MLB level, the manager said.
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