Adam Wainwright

As 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. He also has multiple top-ten finishes in earned run average, strikeouts, walks plus hits per inning pitched, and complete games. In 2014, he became the first pitcher in Major League history to post nine of his first 18 starts with seven innings pitched and no runs allowed. In his career, Wainwright has won more than 150 games, three All-Star selections, two Rawlings Gold Glove Awards and finished in the top three in the Cy Young Award balloting four times.\n', ' With 1,705 strikeouts in his career to date, Wainwright is second in Cardinals\' history to Bob Gibson (3,117) in Cardinals franchise history in strikeouts. He runs a fantasy football league where the registration fees go to charity. He is currently signed through 2019.\n', ' Wainwright was born in Brunswick, Georgia, to Bill, an attorney, and Nancy Wainwright, a real estate agent. However, his parents divorced when he was seven years old and his father moved to Florida, leaving only Wainwright\'s mother to raise him and his older brother Trey, now also an attorney in Atlanta. Wainwright credits Trey, seven years his senior, with teaching him everything he knows about sports after their father left, including building a pitcher\'s mound in their back yard to teach Adam how to pitch. The young Wainwright also participated in the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and numerous church activities, and grew up a huge Braves fan.\n', '