Despite injury, Cardinals' Wainwright still not smitten by the DH
After suffering a thumb sprain while batting in his most recent start, Washington Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer suggested - in jest, he later insisted - that the National League ought to adopt the designated hitter rule.
Adam Wainwright, though, doesn't have his back.
"I couldn't disagree more," Wainwright told Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I love Max ... but I just think baseball is a National League game. I wish both leagues would convert to National League baseball."
After suffering a season-ending injury while batting Saturday night, Wainwright's opinion is tough to dismiss. The 33-year-old right-hander ruptured his Achilles tendon during an at-bat at Miller Park - his 10th plate appearance of the season - but insisted that his injury was merely an anomaly.
"Listening to the doctors ... there's no reason that it happened," he said. "It wasn't like it was an incredibly weak tendon.
"I could have been carrying my daughter up the stairs. So, outlaw carrying your daughter up the stairs. Outlaw covering first. Outlaw fielding a bunt.
"It was a fluke thing and baseball needs to stay exactly where it is."
Convinced his injury was simply a function of bad luck, Wainwright stressed that his misfortune shouldn't lend support to the notion that the designated hitter belongs in the National League.
"The strategy and the game itself in the National is just a better game, in my opinion. I hope that people don't look at this - which I know they already are - and think we should switch to a DH for pitchers."
Wainwright, a three-time All-Star who crafted a 1.44 ERA (265 ERA+) this season before rupturing his Achilles, will undergo surgery this week and is expected to miss 9-12 months. Consequently, he doesn't sound optimistic about the possibility of returning for a potential playoff run.
"Just hobbling the way I have been, it sounds far too important to make sure I’m smart about this than to go out there and pitch two innings in the postseason with the potential for something negative," said Wainwright. "But we'll wait and see where I am in September, October. I don’t foresee me pitching this year. That’s just being fair. But it doesn't mean I can’t use it to work harder."