DIVISIONAL OUTLOOK: NL Central—Michael Wacha debuts

St. Louis Cardinals

Michael Wacha (RHP, STL) made his much-anticipated major league debut on Thursday, replacing the injured John Gast (LHP, STL) in the rotation. Wacha impressed in spring training and has been stellar in 9 starts at AAA-Memphis, with a 2.05 ERA and 34 strikeouts to 15 walks in 52.2 IP. Clearly, the length of his stay in St. Louis will depend upon his performance, but the Cardinals have indicated that the 21-year-old will be on an approximate 150 IP limit this season.  According to GM John Mozeliak, if Wacha remains in the majors he'd "probably receive approximately 22 starts. If you're doing five innings per start, it would probably work in terms of not putting in danger."

Gast was diagnosed with a strained left lat,...

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