Wainwright hiring a good call

FOX AND the MLB Network have hired just-retired Cards starter Adam Wainwright, among the most pleasant, informative, good-natured and engaging men to ever throw a baseball.

His appearances on last October’s Fox playoff games were a bust as his boothmates tried much too hard to force his presence on audiences, prodding him to be funny to justify his inclusion.

This time, just allow Wainwright to be himself as per the game he’s calling. Radical as it may be, allow his enlightenments and storytelling to come naturally.

➤ Watching the Caribbean World Series, just played in Miami and in part televised by ESPN, it was impossible to miss the omnipresence of modern, analytics-addled big-league baseball:

Regardless of circumstances and two-strike counts, too many swings for the fences. While the strikeout totals were only occasionally high, the nuances of winning baseball were seldom seen.

In Venezuela’s 3-0 championship-winning game, 11 Dominican Republic batters struck out against five pitchers. Looked too familiar.

➤ Gary Sanchez, inept, improvement-resistant catcher despite Aaron Boone’s claims to the contrary, a thoughtless basejogger and home run-or-swish swinger who hasn’t hit above .218 since 2019 when he batted .232 with 125 strikeouts in just 395 atbats, has signed a one-year, $7 million deal with the Brewers.

As for us more coachable folks at a small fraction of his salary, isn’t it recycling night?

➤ Reader Alan Hirschberg asks if Wednesday’s Sharks vs. Jets was an NHL game or a remake of “West Side Story.”