This is the first season Adam Wainwright hasn’t thrown a pitch in professional baseball as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals since 2005.
Wainwright made a natural transition to the broadcast booth, having offered analysis as a color analyst while still an active MLB player. And after calling the American League Division Series for Fox this past postseason, the 42-year-old Wainwright parlayed that into becoming an MLB game analyst and joining MLB Network as an analyst.
Prior to making his season debut on MLB on Fox, Wainwright described his transition during a recent appearance on the Flippin’ Bats with Ben Verlander podcast.
He was on the call for this past Saturday’s New York Mets-Tampa Bay Rays game alongside Adam Amin and got to call the Major League Debut of a top pitching prospect in Christian Scott.
“My first game broadcast with Fox is coming up here in a couple of days — May 4,” Wainwright said in a pre-taped interview. “I’m actually up with MLB Network. Today is my last day. I go home for a couple of days, and I go straight back out to Fox. And I love doing that with Fox. Those guys do such a great job. They’re such a good host. They make you feel like part of the family. And here’s the thing…watching the game of baseball, talking about it, and teaching it to the next generation is one of my favorite things to do.
“And I love teaching young kids when they come into the clubhouse like, ‘Alright, what are you thinking when this situation comes up? What do you think about this?’ And then they go, ‘Well, I think —’ and then you go, ‘Hmm, can I tweak that just a little bit?’ I love that stuff. So, to be able to share that with the audience is what I’m looking forward to.”
Wainwright also looks forward to returning to London, but this time in the Fox Sports booth. After a tough outing against the Chicago Cubs last year, Wainwright will provide his insights as an analyst for the upcoming MLB London Series featuring the Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.
“I’m more pumped too that I can go out there and experience a lot,” he said. “I played in the London Series last year; it’s a whirlwind. It’s so much stuff going on…you didn’t get to enjoy everything. So, I’m gonna go a couple of days early. I’m gonna check out the city. And then my wife and I are gonna go over to Paris for a couple of days and enjoy that time together as a retired couple.”
Wainwright’s busy June doesn’t stop in London. He’ll also contribute coverage for MLB Network in London, then head stateside for another broadcast. Just a day after Juneteenth, on June 20, MLB will honor the Negro Leagues with a special game at Rickwood Field, Alabama. Wainwright won’t be on the call for that game but will help provide coverage for the league network as his Cardinals take on the San Francisco Giants.
