Cardinals' Adam Wainwright Fired Up Over Fans Criticism Heading Into Season Debut

St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright had his season delayed due to a groin injury but is set to return in the coming weeks. 

While the Cardinals could desperately use another reliable arm in the rotation, some fans have been hyper-critical of the 41-year-old's rehab performances.

"Adam Wainwright's second rehab start went like this: 4 1/3 innings pitched, seven hits, three earned runs, one walk, one strikeout, 74 pitches/52 strikes," The Athletic's Katie Woo tweeted. "We'll look at velocity, but most of the damage came on off-speed pitches. Cardinals are still deciding if Wainwright will pitch a third rehab outing."

Many fans in the replies criticized Waino for being too old, making too much money or not throwing hard enough in today's era. That seemed to have lit a fire under Wainwright.

"Looking forward to proving every last one of you underneath this wrong," Wainwright commented. "Thanks for the motivation. There’s a balance… read the comments and get depressed? Or read the comments and put the war paint on. See you soon."

Wainwright has allowed five earned runs in 7 1/3 innings for Double-A Springfield across two starts. 

While Cardinals fans would love to see better stats, there's no reason to panic over a couple of rehab outings. 

As expected, Wainwright is using his "struggles" to motivate himself. The future Hall of Fame candidate will be back soon, and it'll be exciting to see how he responds to select fans turning their backs on him after 17 seasons of relative dominance.