Former Baseball: Jonathan Lucroy looks forward to catching Wainwright – MLB All-Star Game Tuesday

Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel, July 15, 2014

Minneapolis – Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who drew the starting nod behind the plate for the National League in the All-Star Game when St. Louis’ Yadier Molina suffered a serious thumb injury, said he looks forward to calling Adam Wainwright’s trademark curveball instead of trying to hit it.

“Obviously, calling it is going to be a lot easier than hitting it,” said Lucroy, who has seen enough of the Cardinals ace during NL Central play. “You enjoy catching guys like that. I think I have an advantage, just know what he throws. I don’t know how many innings it’s going to be.

“We just recently faced him (on Saturday) so that will give me an advantage calling the game for him. I’ll talk to him and see what he wants to do. Hopefully, we’ll be on the same page and get some outs.”

Setting the batting order for the NL hardly was controversial for St. Louis manager Mike Matheny, despite putting all three Brewers in the bottom of the order. Selecting his own ace, Adam Wainwright, over Los Angeles’ Clayton Kershaw did raise a few eyebrows.

“It’s obvious (Wainwright) is a high-caliber pitcher who I believe, in some degree, has never been given the amount of respect that he is due,” said Matheny. “I’m honored to be able to put this title on him and watch what he does, not just with this but the rest of our season.”

“Tough decision, there’s no question about it. We’ve seen a lot of Clayton and it’s not just narrowed down to those two. There are quite a few guys who could absolutely be considered. I have the utmost respect for Clayton as well as the others who were options.”

Though Kershaw has a no-hitter under his belt this season as well as a recent string of 41 consecutive scoreless innings, the records of the two pitching studs are similar. Wainwright is 12-4 with a 1.83 ERA in 19 starts, compared to Kershaw’s 11-2 mark and 1.78 ERA despite opening the year on the disabled list.

Athletic Network Footnote: click here for the AN profile of Jonathan Lucroy.