Giving credit where it's due: Dr. Rick Lehman correctly projects Adam Wainwright's return from Achilles injury

On April 25th, while batting in the top of the fifth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright tore his Achilles tendon while exiting the batter's box toward first base. As reported by Derrick Goold on stltoday.com, Wainwright's recovery period was expected to be "about 9 to 12 months."

Well, starting around the 1:53 mark of the embedded video (aired on April 28, 2015), Dr. Rick Lehman, founder and medical director of the U.S. Center for Sports Medicine, stated that it would "probably take four to six months [for Wainwright] to come back...We've done a lot of these, and it's probably not going to be nine months. And he should do very well. I mean, he's a pitcher. He's not an offensive lineman. He's not a basketball player."

I bring attention to Dr. Rick's interview on Fox 2 because if you were anywhere near Twitter today, you have probably heard the news:

Adam Wainwright throwing off the mound before Cardinals batting practice today. pic.twitter.com/EOidmH5Vtu

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) September 23, 2015

Of course, throwing to live hitters does not mean Wainwright is officially "back" just yet. I fully realize that there is still a good chance he doesn't make it all the way back until spring training 2016, but recent developments show that this potential scenario won't be due to the recovery/rehabilitation of his torn Achilles. All signs point toward a healthy Achilles tendon. Now, it is whether or not Wainwright is able to get his timing back and fine-tune his repertoire to the point where he can be effective out of an MLB bullpen after spending four months away from the pitcher's mound.