St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina is holding off his spring debut one day to make it perfect.
What a more perfect way to make your spring debut in what may be a farewell season for a player who has meant so much to the organization.
Yadier Molina will make his debut in the Cardinals lineup on Monday. The pitcher who will take the mound that afternoon is Adam Wainwright.
How perfect!
Yadier Molina will make his spring game debut Monday — and yes he’ll be catching Adam Wainwright. #stlcards
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) March 26, 2022
Molina and Wainwright have become one of the more iconic duos of the organization. The two re-signed with the club prior to the lockout and have acknowledged that it will most likely be the last for Molina, who is expected to retire at the end of the 2022 season. Most importantly, the duo could break the Major League record for battery mates.
Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright ready for record-breaking season
The pair will need 20 starts to surpass the record held by Detroit Tigers Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan at 324 games. Molina and Wainwright will start the 2022 season with 305 starts as a battery.
Thankfully the duo will have a full 162-game season to get it done. As long as they are both healthy it’s anticipated they will be able to meet and surpass the record this summer.
Molina’s debut has been delayed due to the late arrival of the legendary catcher. He did not arrive at Spring Training camp until this week due to taking care of personal matters in Puerto Rico.
It’s unclear how he will be used in 2022, but in 2021, Molina played in 121 games hitting .252/.297/.370 with a +83 wRC and 11 home runs, and 66 RBI. Those hitting numbers are low, but he is still Yadier Molina and is someone you can surely depend on in the crunch. The pitching staff still relies heavily on Molina as their captain.
Molina will want to compete and come up big for his team in what could be his final season. He will have the perfect setting to debut that on Monday.