Xander Bogaerts, Matt Carpenter, Mike Shildt gush over veteran right-hander's talent and preparation
When Padres pitcher Michael Wacha was in his early 20s, professional baseball rushed at him like a Nolan Ryan fastball. He was drafted 19overall by the Cardinals in 2012, ahead of future All-Stars Marcus Stroman and Lance McCullers Jr.
“It was pretty crazy with all the stuff going on,” Wacha said. “Someone said, ‘Hey, hold my baby for a picture.’ That’s a lot of pressure right there. More pressure than pitching.” The injuries and years tested, but failed to derail him. In 2022, a sparkling season with the Red Sox provided a time portal to his earliest and best success. His 127 OPS-plus in Boston, a metric that takes a player’s ballpark into account, with 100 being an average Major League pitcher, was the second highest of his career after three seasons at 88 or less.
“The biggest thing was talking to Mike Shildt, Matt Carpenter and Allen Craig, guys that have played with him, he’s going to put himself in position to contribute at a really high level in terms of taking care of his body, being in great shape, doing his arm care, it’s going to be taken care of,” Padres President of Baseball Operations and GM A.J. Preller said.Shildt, who managed Wacha at his first pro stop in Springfield, Mo., and later in St. Louis, gushed about his former player.
“I went to take him out and the umpire said, ‘You can’t take him out.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He’s like, ‘That’s the best pitcher I’ve seen all year in this league.’ And there were a lot of other big leaguers in the league that year.”“I had Lester his last year in St. Louis,” Shildt said of the five-time All-Star and 2016 NL Cy Young runnerup. “He was a John Wayne, ‘True Grit’ kind of guy. Michael was an old-school guy.
“You think about what he did last year in a really tough division, the AL East. To put up the kind of numbers he did on a team that really didn’t perform like they thought would, which makes it even harder. I fully expect him to have a great season for us.”
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