Michael Wacha will skip next start in an effort to preserve arm
The St. Louis Cardinals have decided that Michael Wacha will skip his next start which was scheduled for Sunday. Carlos Martinez will pitch in his place.
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Cardinals manager Mike Matheny along with Wacha assured everyone that his arm is fine but that there was some fatigue starting to set in. The season began with all intentions to watch Wacha closely and pull him if he was being shown to be pushed too far. Doing so too soon in his Major League career will be detrimental to his future.
"“There have definitely been times over the last couple starts where I was maybe getting a little bit tired. Obviously, I want to be out there every fifth day. But we have Carlos in a situation where he’s able to fill in; he’s already stretched out a little bit. I guess it’s that time to do it.”"
Wacha currently has three June starts where he has allowed eight runs on 16 hits with seven walks.
Throughout the season so far, Wacha has pitched 90.1 innings throughout 15 starts. If continuing this pace, Wacha will pitch around 200 innings this season. Hence the need for some slow down. Last year he logged 150 innings in the minors and majors combined.
Last week Wacha pitched a season’s worst where he allowed four runs. The bad start against Tampa Bay was what initiated the team to look into resting him sooner rather than later. This is Wacha’s first full season in the majors and Matheny stated that “I doubt it’s the last time. We’re going to be looking to get him time. That was part of the plan when we walked into this thing.”