For every 1,000 professional athletes that claim they don’t pay attention to fantasy sports and could not possibly care less about your fantasy team, there is a guy like St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright who pays close attention to where he is drafted.
Earlier this week, Sirius XM held its F.S.T.A Experts Baseball Draft. Wainwright, who is less than nine months removed from a torn Achilles, lasted until the seventh round and was the 22nd pitcher drafted. The 34-year-old caught wind of how he plummeted down the board and decided to call into Sirius XM’s Fantasy Sports Radio.
“If these are so-called experts doing this draft, maybe guys should start looking for another occupation,” Wainwright argued. “I came back after Achilles surgery in five months. You show me an old guy that’s able to do that. I still feel young. I’m feeling young. All you guys that passed on me, I’m gonna make you regret that decision.”
Wainwright had the sound of a guy who was kidding around, but there was probably a lot of truth to what he was saying.
“Check the stats, SiriusXM. Clean it up over there,” he joked. “What are you doing? It’s going to make it all the more fun going into spring training. I appreciate the extra motivation.”
You can understand why people would be skeptical about Wainwright’s future. Not many athletes come back as strong as ever after suffering a significant injury like that, though Wainwright did win 20 games in 2014 and 19 the season before that.
Cardinals fans should be happy that Wainwright is determined to prove he can come back at full strength. Most pro athletes despise fantasy sports, and one even hinted that it was one of the reasons he retired. If Wainwright can use an “experts” draft as motivation, more power to him.
You can hear Wainwright’s full radio call below:
