Adam Wainwright has been the St. Louis Cardinals' ace for the better part of this decade, but there seems to be a ceremonial passing of the torch happening between him and Carlos Martinez.
While his spring training stats haven't been great (7 walks allowed, 12 strikeouts and a 7.78 ERA in 19.2 innings), his struggles started last year, which was easily the worst of his career. He set this unfortunate tone right out of the gate in April, compiling a 7.16 ERA, 1.70 WHIP and 5.32 FIP through 27.2 innings of work.
This was actually just the start of what was quite a roller coaster ride of production for the veteran righty. Check out the fluctuation in his ERA, FIP and K/9 throughout the year.
| 2016 | IP | ERA | FIP | K/9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April through May | 64.2 | 5.71 | 4.4 | 5.57 |
| June through July | 67.1 | 2.67 | 2.23 | 8.42 |
| August through October | 66.2 | 5.54 | 5.2 | 7.83 |
This was weird to see from a hurler who has always been consistently great throughout his career.
While he didn't let a slow start prevent him from experiencing a two-month run of dominance in the summer, a strong start is imperative for Wainwright and the Cardinals. They need everything to go right in order to at least have some hope to keep pace with the Chicago Cubs in the division.