page_title: Adam Wainwright
section_title: Pitching style
hierarchical_section_title: Adam Wainwright / Pitching style
caption_attribution_description: English: Adam Wainwright pitching motion.
context_page_description: Adam Parrish Wainwright, nicknamed "Uncle Charlie", is an American professional baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball. The Atlanta Braves selected him 29th overall in the first round of the 2000 amateur draft from Glynn Academy in Brunswick, Georgia. His performance in the minor leagues brought him notice as one of the Braves' top pitching prospects. The Braves traded him to the Cardinals after the 2003 season, receiving outfielder J. D. Drew in a deal which has since been considered lopsided in favor of the Cardinals. Wainwright made his MLB debut on September 11, 2005, against the New York Mets.
  After spending his first full MLB season as a relief pitcher, Wainwright briefly assumed closer duties, saving the series-clinching games of both the 2006 National League Championship Series and World Series. The next season, he returned to starting pitching, a role in which he has since remained, except for 2011, which he missed due to Tommy John surgery. He emerged as an ace as he led the National League multiple times in wins, innings pitched, and games started.
context_section_description: Wainwright has a sinkerball, throwing it in the 90 to 92 miles per hour (145–148 km/h) range. He also throws a good deal of cutters 84 to 88 miles per hour (135–142 km/h) and curveballs 73 to 77 miles per hour (117–124 km/h) that have dropped more than 8 inches before from top to bottom of the pitch. Less commonly, he also throws a four-seam fastball 90 to 95 miles per hour (145–153 km/h) and an 84 to 86 miles per hour (135–138 km/h)changeup. He uses all of his pitches against left-handed hitters, but he does not use the changeup against right-handers. Wainwright's most-used pitch in two-strike counts is his curveball.
  In spring training of 2013, he started incorporating an elevated four-seam fastball, making his curveball more effective.
caption: Wainwright's pitching motion, 2016
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS REBEL T2i", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2016:05:05 18:48:42", "Image Artist": "Johnmaxmena  John Mena", "Image Copyright": "Unauthorized use prohibited (c)", "Image ExifOffset": "296", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "918", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6646", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/2500", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "6400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:05:02 19:01:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:05:02 19:01:06", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "352741/31250", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "400", "EXIF SubSecTime": "06", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "06", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "06", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "12934", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3189", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1036800/181", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "691200/119", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "1222511362", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[400, 400, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "400mm"}