After another impressive outing Thursday in which he carved up the Red Sox, Jack Flaherty of the Tigers leads the American League in strikeouts. He's third in the majors in strikeout-to-walk ratio, after finishing in the bottom of the bigs in the same department last year. Once an ace in St. Louis, Flaherty has been reborn in Detroit.
"He’s been arguably a top five pitcher in the game," MLB Network analyst Mark DeRosa said Friday. "He’s bringing back vibes of 2019 when he was with the Cardinals and he was a true No. 1."
Flaherty took a no-hitter into the seventh in the Tigers' 5-0 win over the Red Sox. He struck out nine, walked one and lowered his ERA to 3.46, down from 4.99 a year ago when he struggled to command the ball and was traded from the Cardinals to the Orioles. Even more impressive, Flaherty has an expected ERA of 2.54 and an expected FIP of 2.01. The latter mark leads the majors.
In 67 2/3 innings this season, Flaherty has 90 strikeouts to 10 walks. He's throwing the ball better than ever, and this is a pitcher who led the National League in WHIP and finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 2019. Flaherty was 23 years old at the time, in his second big-league season. Then a series of shoulder and oblique injuries derailed his career. Healthy again, he's finally back on track.
The Tigers deserve some credit here. They identified Flaherty in free agency as a pitcher with coachable upside, then concocted a plan to bring it out of him. Pitching coaches Chris Fetter and Robin Lund laid it out to him over Zoom. Flaherty signed a one-year, $14 million deal with the Tigers shortly thereafter. Now he might be part of the team's future.
Flaherty, of course, will be a prized asset at the trade deadline if he continues pitching like this. If the Tigers fall out of the race, they'll have to consider moving him for the offensive help they need. They could also opt to extend him before it comes to that. He's only 28.
Asked about Flaherty being a potential trade piece for the Tigers, DeRosa said, "He might be someone they think about sticking around -- because he could be a true ace for them." Along with Tarik Skubal and Reese Olson, that would give the Tigers quite the trio in the rotation.
"I don’t think the timeline for them adding a little gas is that far off," says Doug Karsch (in the audio player above). "If he finishes out the year in a positive way, you gotta try to bring him back. ... He is earning strong consideration as a guy you lock up for the next three, four years."
Karsch says it's clear that Flaherty "believes in his stuff" again: "He’s not afraid to throw in the strike zone, he’s not nibbling. His confidence seems to be in a really good place. And I credit the coaching staff. There have been some mechanical changes that they’ve made and they’ve worked to the positive."
"But the Jack Flaherty question falls in line with the questioning of ownership. And that is, will ownership step up and pay him?"