Cardinals’ Wainwright helps out rookie
JUPITER, Fla. — St. Louis pitcher Ryan Sherriff thought clubhouse prankster Adam Wainwright was taking him for a ride. Turns out, he was about to be given one.
When the Cardinals traveling secretary asked Sherriff for his driver’s license, the 26-year-old left-hander thought someone was trying to mock his license photo, which still featured a picture from his high school days.
Sherriff spent last season at Class AAA Memphis and has an outside chance at making the big league roster. He couldn’t afford to ship his car from California to Florida for spring training, so he rented a house about 10 minutes away. He’s been walking to camp, to the store and pretty much everywhere else this spring. There was no need for a license.
Three times Wainwright drove past Sherriff on his way to the ballpark. After offering Sherriff a bicycle, which the reliever appreciatively declined, Wainwright asked traveling secretary C.J. Cherre to get Sheriff a rented car. Wainwright took care of the bill.
“That’s the kind of thing that happened to me when I was younger,” Wainwright said. “I remember I wore a couple of tired collared shirts in a row to the field and Mark Mulder bought me a whole box of collared shirts.”
To rent the car, Cherre needed Sherriff’s license. The young pitcher began to suspect something was up.
“So I run into Waino in the dugout I’m like, ‘Hey, man, are you pulling a prank on me with my ID?” Sherriff said. “He grabs me by the shoulder. He’s just like, ‘Yeah, you better watch out.’”
A few hours later, while cooking Wednesday night’s dinner, Sherriff received a call from Cardinals clubhouse man Ernie Moore letting him know the keys to a Nissan Altima were waiting for him in his locker.
“I got out of my house, I started walking,” Sherriff said. “I called my mom. I started crying because it’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
RED SOX: Left-hander David Price was scratched from his first spring training start and will consult with specialists after experiencing soreness in his left forearm and elbow.
Price, who is scheduled to make his first spring start this weekend, is expected to seek second opinions.
CUBAN SMUGGLING: White Sox star Jose Abreu testified Thursday he had an extremely close relationship with a Florida baseball trainer on trial along with a sports agent for allegedly smuggling Cuban ballplayers off the island.
Abreu acknowledged giving trainer Julio Estrada $25,000 a month last summer after Estrada’s assets were frozen by the government following his indictment in the smuggling case — $10,000 more than Estrada had requested. He did so, Abreu testified, “because of the high esteem I have for him.”
RULES: Major League Baseball and the players’ association announced their agreement on pitchless intentional walks, and the change took effect with exhibition games starting Thursday.
If a manager signals the plate umpire for an intentional walk, the umpire would tell the batter to take first base.
Two other rule changes were announced Thursday. An addition to rule 5.07 formalizes an umpire interpretation and prohibits a pitcher from resetting his pivot foot or taking a second step toward home plate during his delivery. If the pitcher violates the rule with a runner on base, a balk should be called. If there are no runners, a violation should be considered an illegal pitch under rule 6.02(b).
A change to rule 5.03 requires base coaches to remain behind the line of the coach’s box closest to the plate and the front line parallel to the foul line prior to each pitch.
BRAVES: Dansby Swanson, the top pick in the 2015 amateur draft, led off the game with a solo homer off Wainright. Wainwright allowed three runs and three hits over two innings.
METS: Yoenis Cespedes hit his first home run of spring training, clearing the batter’s eye dozens of feet high behind the 410-foot fence in center field, against the Marlins.
RED SOX: Jackie Bradley Jr. hit two home runs and drove in five runs against the Rays.
DODGERS: Clayton Kershaw went two perfect innings and Yasmani Grandal and Scott Van Slyke had run-scoring singles for Los Angeles in a win over Cleveland.