The St. Louis Cardinals have certainly missed having right-hander Adam Wainwright around to start the 2023 season.
The veteran starter injured his groin in the weight room during the World Baseball Classic back in March after being originally scheduled to start on Opening Day.
Without the two-time World Series champion, St. Louis’ rotation has performed quite poorly.
Only three quality starts have been recorded.
The team is also 9-13 to start the year.
However, Wainwright is well known for always being optimistic.
On Twitter, the three-time All-Star posted a message of hope for any Cardinals fan who is concerned about the way things are going, preaching optimism and patience.
The thing about slumps… the closer you are to the very bottom is the closest you can get to being red hot. Birds about to get hot… watch what happens. @Cardinals
— Adam Wainwright (@UncleCharlie50) April 23, 2023
Wainwright has certainly been around for some improbable runs.
In 2006, the Cardinals almost lost a seven-game lead in the NL Central, but held on to win the division before getting hot in the postseason and capturing their 10th World Series title.
Wainwright closed out the NLCS and World Series in that postseason run.
Though he was injured in 2011, the Cardinals found themselves 10.5 games back in the Wild Card race.
However, the team got hot and erased that deficit, clinching a playoff berth on the final day of the season and riding that momentum to another title.
Wainwright is the last holdover from both of those championship runs.
But having experienced both of them, Wainwright understands that a bad start to the season isn’t a death sentence and that there is plenty of time for the Cardinals to get hot and start winning some games.
NEXT:
Jack Flaherty Was Throwing Heat On Sunday
