A 40-year-old veteran pitcher who is still hungry despite 14 wins in 159K in 176 innings will continue to play next year.
Kim Kwang-hyun’s teammate Adam Wainwright (40, St. Louis Cardinals) expressed his willingness to extend his active career.
Wainwright released the video on the website of the Big League Impact, a sports charity he founded on the 8th (Korea Standard Time). Wainwright, who appeared with his family in the video, asked whether he would extend his active career, and all his family members expressed their support. Earlier, Wainwright expressed his intention that “the family’s intention is important” over whether to extend his active duty. The release of the video on this day actually officially expressed his willingness to extend his active duty. Jeff Jones of MLB Dotcom also said, “Wainwright has expressed his intention to extend his active career.”
Wainwright’s performance, who signed a one-year $8 million contract with St. Louis ahead of this season, is overshadowed by his age. He threw 176 innings in 27 games with 14 wins and 7 losses and a 2.91 ERA and 159 strikeouts. He recorded three complete pitches this season. Last month, he was also selected as the pitcher of the month.
Wayne Wright, who was nominated for St. Louis with 29th overall ranking in 2000, is a franchise star who has played for only one team for more than 20 years. He was called up to the big leagues in 2005 and played full-time from the following year. It won double-digit wins for the fourth consecutive year from 2007 to 2010 and reached the 20-win mark in 2020. Even after performing elbow ligament junction (tomyzone) surgery in 2011, he surpassed the 10th win mark for the 3rd consecutive year in the 2012-2014 season. In the aftermath of his injury in 2018, he had only 2 wins and 4 losses in 40 2이닝3 innings, but he surpassed 170 innings again in 2019 and won 14 games, worthy of his nickname as the best pitcher in the 21st century.
Wainwright previously said, “Maybe 2022 will be the last active season.” Looking back at St. Louis’ performance this season and difficulties in securing starting resources, he seems likely to renew his contract as he wishes.
