JUPITER, Fla. – Nearly a year to the day since he suffered a season-ending elbow injury last spring training, Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright is back on the mound as if nothing ever happened.
After completing a rigorous rehab program the past year, Wainwright entered the Cardinals' first official workout Sunday on the same spring schedule as the rest of the starters.
"I don't feel like I've missed a year, I really don't," Wainwright said. "Games haven't happened yet so I will slow-play that a little bit but I'm real comfortable now."I have no limitations whatsoever."
Wainwright has been throwing at the Cardinals' complex in Jupiter since early January. He faced hitters three times in simulated games before dialing it back and starting from scratch Sunday with the rest of the Cardinals starters.
The right-hander will throw another bullpen session Tuesday before likely facing hitters again later in the week. Despite the larger than usual crowd of reporters watching his every move, it appears to be business as usual for the former All-Star.
"It sure is nice to be back out there, I know that," Wainwright said. "I feel good. I feel more ahead of where I normally am at this time of year, that's for sure. I'm reluctant to talk about it because it feels so good. I just hope it continues."
Wainwright finished second in the National League Cy Young voting in 2010 after going 20-11 with a 2.42 ERA. In his two seasons before getting hurt in 2009-2010, the right-hander topped all N.L. starters with 39 wins, 463 1/3 innings pitched and a 2.53 ERA.
The Cardinals are 77-42 in games started by Wainwright during his four-year run as a starter and 52-16 in games that he allowed three or fewer runs. His ERA has dropped in each of his four years as a starter, from 3.70 in 2007 to 3.20 in 2008, 2.63 in 2009 and 2.42 in 2010.
"He's right on schedule," said general manager John Mozeliak. "He's really just any other pitcher right now with where he is. The key is just monitoring his starts and pitch counts as we go through spring and making sure we just back him off of what he's already accomplished and then rachet him up as get closer to Opening Day."
Wainwright threw about 30 pitches Sunday to catcher Yadier Molina, mixing in a nice assortment off fastballs and offspeed pitches. The two hugged following his first official throw of camp, prompting Molina to say, "I was waiting for that moment since last year."
The right-hander could have become a free agent last offseason but the Cardinals picked up his two-year, $21 million option after the season in anticipation that he would come back strong this year.
After closing out the final out of the Cardinals World Series Championship in 2006, Wainwright was delegated to a cheerleader role during their magical run last season. But always one to find the positives in things, Wainwright is looking ahead, not back.
"I look at that as a speed bump in my career," Wainwright said. "It certainly stinks missing a year, no doubt about it, but missing a year to hopefully get stronger in many different ways and facets of my game, hopefully. That's the way I look at it."
On being back on the mound after missing an entire season, Wainwright said, "It gives me appreciation of how much I love the game. I told somebody yesterday, ‘Spring training is fun.' It's a great time, it really is. Good weather, good place to be, good team to be on, family time at night, baseball in the morning. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that."
Wainwright has laughed at early projections he will only pitch 150 innings this season. The right-hander explained that would be only five innings for 30 starts, something he expects to easily surpass.
But knowing the always-competitive Wainwright won't want things to be any different this year despite the year-long absence, the Cardinals plan to try and be extra careful with him to avoid any setbacks.
"He just has a locked-in demeanor already so we're just harnessing that in a little bit and holding him back just a hair to make sure he's not trying to get too far ahead of himself," said manager Mike Matheny. "But that's a great spot to be in, having to hold a guy back instead of having to push him.
"We'll give Adam some leniency and let him be able to talk about how he feels but for the most part we're going to have a plan and were going to stay with it."
