Players · W · Pitcher · 2023
Adam Wainwright
- Age
- 42
- B/T
- R/R
- Height
- 6' 7"
- Weight
- 230 lb
- Born
- August 30, 1981 in Brunswick, GA, United States
- MLB debut
- September 11, 2005
- dbWAR
- 16.4 16 season(s)
- IP
- 101.0
- ERA
- 7.40
- FIP
- 5.99
- K/9
- 4.9
- FIP−
- 138 100 = avg
Adam Wainwright was a starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2023 he struck out 55 batters over 101.0 innings across 21 appearances, 21 of them starts, going 5-11. His ERA of 7.40 was 70.7% higher than the league average of 4.33 — the second worst on his team, and 535th of 550 among MLB pitchers with 20+ innings. Stripping out defence, his 5.99 FIP suggests he pitched better than his ERA shows. He missed bats on 13.1% of swings (5.4% of every pitch he threw), walked 8.5% of the batters he faced and struck out 11.4%. His -0.6 dbWAR is built from that FIP rather than runs allowed, so it credits him for what he controls and not for the defence behind him.
League context
Percentile among qualified pitchers, 2023.
WAR by season
Pitching
Standard and advanced, by season.
| Trend | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | STL | 21 | 21 | 101.0 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 151 | 83 | 55 | 41 | 7.40 | 5.99 | 1.90 | 4.9 | 3.7 | 171 | 138 | -0.6 | |
| 2022 | STL | 32 | 32 | 191.2 | 11 | 12 | 0 | 192 | 79 | 143 | 54 | 3.71 | 3.66 | 1.28 | 6.7 | 2.5 | 93 | 92 | 2.9 | |
| 2021 | STL | 32 | 32 | 206.1 | 17 | 7 | 0 | 168 | 70 | 174 | 50 | 3.05 | 3.66 | 1.06 | 7.6 | 2.2 | 72 | 86 | 3.7 | |
| 2020 | STL | 10 | 10 | 65.2 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 54 | 23 | 54 | 15 | 3.15 | 4.11 | 1.05 | 7.4 | 2.1 | 71 | 92 | 1.1 | |
| 2019 | STL | 31 | 31 | 171.2 | 14 | 10 | 0 | 181 | 80 | 153 | 64 | 4.19 | 4.36 | 1.43 | 8.0 | 3.4 | 93 | 97 | 2.3 | |
| 2018 | STL | 8 | 8 | 40.1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 41 | 20 | 40 | 18 | 4.46 | 4.28 | 1.46 | 8.9 | 4.0 | 108 | 103 | 0.4 | |
| 2017 | STL | 24 | 23 | 123.1 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 140 | 70 | 96 | 45 | 5.11 | 4.29 | 1.50 | 7.0 | 3.3 | 117 | 98 | 1.4 | |
| 2016 | STL | 33 | 33 | 198.2 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 220 | 102 | 161 | 59 | 4.62 | 3.93 | 1.40 | 7.3 | 2.7 | 110 | 94 | 2.8 | |
| 2015 | STL | 7 | 4 | 28.0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 5 | 20 | 4 | 1.61 | 2.13 | 1.04 | 6.4 | 1.3 | 41 | 54 | 0.9 |
Batting
Standard and advanced, by season.
| Trend | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | STL | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.0% | 50.0% | .000 | -0.5 | -117 | -0.1 | |
| 2021 | STL | 33 | 74 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 25 | .123 | .167 | .158 | .035 | .219 | 4.1% | 33.8% | .151 | -10.3 | -16 | 0.1 | |
| 2019 | STL | 29 | 59 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 20 | .160 | .189 | .220 | .060 | .258 | 3.4% | 33.9% | .178 | -7.3 | 2 | 0.2 | |
| 2018 | STL | 8 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | .091 | .091 | .091 | .000 | .200 | 0.0% | 50.0% | .080 | -2.3 | -66 | -0.1 | |
| 2017 | STL | 24 | 50 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 15 | .262 | .279 | .452 | .190 | .360 | 2.0% | 30.0% | .311 | -0.6 | 94 | 0.6 | |
| 2016 | STL | 32 | 69 | 13 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 17 | .210 | .234 | .452 | .242 | .256 | 2.9% | 24.6% | .291 | -1.7 | 81 | 0.8 | |
| 2015 | STL | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.0% | 20.0% | .000 | -2.5 | -125 | -0.1 |
Platoon splits
How left- and right-handed hitters fare against him.
| Split | PA | AB | H | HR | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs LHB | 231 | 200 | 70 | 9 | 29 | 25 | .350 | .429 | .600 | .437 | 10.8% |
| vs RHB | 253 | 238 | 81 | 11 | 12 | 30 | .340 | .375 | .550 | .396 | 11.9% |
Spray chart
Where every ball he put in play landed, 2023.
Loading 1 batted balls…
Hot and cold zones
Batting average by pitch location, 2023.
Pitch sequencing
What Adam Wainwright throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.
Select a count to see exactly what Adam Wainwright throws in it.
Pitch arsenal
What he throws, how hard, how often it misses, and what hitters do with it.
| Sinker | 560 | 86.9 | 2,167 | 40.0% | 9.4% | 142 | .394 | 1.188 | |
| Curveball | 546 | 71.5 | 2,647 | 39.9% | 15.4% | 140 | .293 | .827 | |
| Cutter | 404 | 82.9 | 2,321 | 40.6% | 15.2% | 93 | .344 | .857 | |
| Four-Seam Fastball | 178 | 85.7 | 2,158 | 41.6% | 13.1% | 43 | .326 | .954 | |
| Changeup | 89 | 81.4 | 1,655 | 23.6% | 10.0% | 18 | .389 | 1.061 |
Head to head
Put Adam Wainwright beside up to three others.
Similar players
Nearest 2023 seasons by command, run prevention and role, on rate statistics rather than totals.
wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.