The Revenant of Major League Baseball

Eye of the Tiger

Photo Credit - Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press

Jack Flaherty is BACK! If we took a time machine back a few years to say…2018, we would be witnessing Flaherty playing virtually in his rookie season (21.1 IP in 2017). The baseball community is actively hyping up the Cardinal's young stud as he finished 5th in RoY voting. After an impressive rookie campaign, Flaherty had it all come along as he dominated in 2019 and finished 4th in Cy Young voting in the National League while placing 13th in MVP voting. 

Then 2020 came, and we haven’t seen the same old Flaherty since (outside of 2021)…until now. Flaherty had been dealing with several injury issues over the last few years, so it is no shock to me that he didn’t look like his 2018-2019 self. At age 28, it is possible that Flaherty is finally fully healthy and has found himself again. It just so happens that Detroit might just be the place for pitchers to go and shove at the moment. Their cumulative team ERA is 3.19, good for the 4th best in baseball. Do I need to point to teammate Tarik Skubal and his numbers? 

Flaherty was simply dominant last night against the Cardinals, his former team, and brought his ‘A’ game as he recorded 14 strikeouts across 6 ⅔ innings. This performance was insane, as he was able to record 20 outs with just 93 pitches. Did I mention he landed 66 (71%) of those for strikes? Flaherty deserves a shout-out for only walking 1x batter during this onslaught of the Cardinals lineup. It is a crying shame the Tigers somehow lost this game, but nevertheless, let us focus on Flaherty. 

The reality is that Flaherty is looking like his old self and can definitely earn himself a massive payday at the end of the season if he keeps this up. I am praying for him to get that cash, as I selfishly have him rostered in multiple fantasy leagues this season. It would also be pretty cool to see Detroit be able to make a run at the playoffs, but I don’t see them doing that without players like Jack Flaherty continuing to impress.

2024 Stats:

0-1 | 4.00 ERA | 6 GS | 36 IP | 50 K | 1.028 WHIP

Career Stats: 

42-35 | 3.76 ERA | 131 GS | 798 K | 1.201 WHIP