Aaron Judge out, Shohei Ohtani, Gunnar Henderson secure spots in Cardinals icon's top 5 MLB list

St. Louis Cardinals legend and former MLB All-Star Adam Wainwright had some interesting choices when he named his top five current players in baseball. Wainwright selected Shohei Ohtani as his top pick, with Tarik Skubal, Bobby Witt Jr., Zack Wheeler and Gunnar Henderson rounding up his list.

The former hurler and two-time NL wins leader had a peculiar list that featured two pitchers paired up with this era's emerging stars, Witt and Henderson. Surprisingly, American League MVP Aaron Judge was not part of Wainwright's top five.

"I love Aaron Judge and I know that Yankee fans will get mad at me as he's not on my top 5 list," Wainwright said on Wednesday (0:15), via MLB Network.

"It's because there are some guys that do not get talked about enough. It all starts on the 'bump.' Tarik Skubal might win the next five Cy Youngs. But nobody talks about my guy, Zack Wheeler. If there's someone who's game-ready to start a proverbial Game 7, I'm picking him."

On Wednesday's episode of MLB Network's "Top 100 Players Right Now," Wainwright had some unique picks compared to long-time analysts Cliff Floyd and Yonder Alonso. They went with the usual route of Ohtani in the top spot with Aaron Judge in second.

The similarities continued as they both selected Bobby Witt Jr. and Juan Soto, albeit in different ranks. Their only difference came in their last selection as Alonso picked Jose Ramirez while Floyd picked Mookie Betts.

MLB analysts question Adam Wainwright's contrarian picks

Due to Adam Wainwright's bold picks, MLB analysts Cliff Floyd and Yonder Alonso questioned the rationale behind them.

"So you don't need run support," Floyd said.

"Who will get it," Alonso said.

Wainwright was quick to fend off the questions.

"You don't need run support when Zack Wheeler is on the mound," Wainwright said. "If they still let pitchers hit, he might get one."

The former Silver Slugger for pitchers went on to defend his decision of not including Judge.

"If there was a list of top 5 position players, Aaron Judge would get in every time," Wainwright said. "But for us pitchers, we don't get the same love."

The Cardinals legend stood by his controversial picks and asked Floyd and Alonso to name three pitchers better than Wheeler.