“Black Jack” Flaherty Showing Signs Of Improvement | He’s Shaking The Injury Bug

“Black Jack” Flaherty Showing Signs Of Improvement | He’s Shaking The Injury Bug

by | May 25, 2022 | THE THREE SPOT

The St. Louis Cardinals have been without their starting pitcher Jack Flaherty all season.  After having a successful 2021 season where he finished with a 9-2 record and 3.22 ERA, Flaherty was ready to play a significant role in leading the Cardinals to another postseason appearance.

Jack Flaherty Is Back & He’s Money Whenever He Toes The Slab

Let’s not forget that he dealt with an oblique tear that forced him to miss some time last season and if that injury did not happen, he could have put himself in the NL Cy Young race.

Well, things didn’t go as planned for the 26-year-old going into the 2022 season. 

Flaherty started the season on the injured list dealing with inflammation in his right shoulder and while there’s no confirmed timetable on a return, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol believes he’ll be back soon.

In an mlb.com article, Marmol said that Flaherty is gearing towards a late May/early June return which is a positive sign.

 The right hander recently had a bullpen session and he felt pretty good.

“Everything feels really good, and it’s been fun watching how the ball is coming out of my hand and how it feels coming out,” Flaherty said in an mlb.com article after his recent bullpen session this past week.

When Flaherty returns to the lineup, the Cardinals will have another weapon on their pitching staff, which comes as no surprise. He’s been the Opening Day starter the past few seasons and has been a spark for the team on the mound.

MLBbro Pitcher Jack Flaherty Suffers First Loss Of The Season |He Is Human After All

 

According to the article, Flaherty spent the last two seasons with a small tear and bursitis in his right shoulder.

The fact that our MLBbro was still going out there and competing at a high level speaks volumes to the competitor he is. But safety and health is very important and the Cardinals certainly don’t want anything serious to happen to their talented pitcher.

In March, Flaherty was put on a rehab plan and also went through a strengthening program to help out with the inflammation. One word that Flaherty has really dealt with over the last few years is patience. 

“Last year, the oblique injury felt longer because there wasn’t necessarily a timetable, and I really couldn’t do anything to speed it up,” said Flaherty. “It wasn’t like I could do more rehab; I had to just give it more time to heal, which felt like forever. It wasn’t like I could put this on it or do this exercise because we had to let it heal first. And it was the first time I had injured [an oblique], so that just made it a lot different than this year.”

There’s no question that Flaherty is ready to get back on that bump and put his team in positions to win games.

You Don’t Know Jack!

“That’s why we love to play the game. To be on that mound, that’s what I love to do,” he said. “I like being in here supporting these guys and pulling for them, but I really want to be back out there. Everything is feeling good, and I’m confident.”

All eyes will be on Flaherty once he makes his season debut and he certainly will go out there and compete every pitch.

St. Louis Cardinals Ace Jack Flaherty Picks Up Where He Left Off

St. Louis Cardinals Ace Jack Flaherty Picks Up Where He Left Off

by | Aug 15, 2021 | THE LEAD OFF

There has to be a voice somewhere in the back of Jack Flaherty’s mind asking about what could have been, both for him and the St. Louis Cardinals.

After going 74 days between starts, Flaherty looked like he hadn’t been away at all, going six strong innings and striking out five, walking none, and allowing only two hits and no runs, as the Cards won their fourth game in a row.

The victory pushed St. Louis to three games over .500 for the first time since June 5.

“I just didn’t try to do too much tonight,” Flaherty said. “Once I got that first strike in there everything felt normal. I missed competing with these guys and being a part of the team was what I missed the most.”

“Jack was in control and he hit right where we wanted with his pitch count,” said Cardinals manager Mike Shildt. “It was a perfect outing and we’re glad he’s back.”

When he walked off the mound after throwing for five innings on May 31, Flaherty was 8-1 with a 2.90 ERA, and the Cardinals were 30-24, good enough to be sitting in first place in the National League Central.

Flaherty was leading the NL in wins, and hadn’t allowed more than three earned runs since Opening Day. 

Between April 7 and May 19, he won eight consecutive starts. Outside of maybe Jacob deGrom, no one was handling hitters as effectively as Flaherty.

St. Louis seemed like a lock for the postseason, and the Black Ace was an early frontrunner for the Cy Young Award.

 

 

Then came the left oblique strain that took the Ace right out of the deck.

By the time he was activated from the 60-day injured list on Friday,

Flaherty was returning to a team now 10.5 games back in its division and tied with the New York Mets for sixth place in the Wild Card chase.

 

 

It won’t be easy for the Cards to make a playoff push, though they face divisional foes Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee, in 16 of their next 20 games. That’s an opportunity to quickly make up some ground in the Central and pull closer to the postseason pack.

Flaherty can help lead the charge, but he’s going to be smart during his return. He’s not the savior, but hopefully his return signals the start of a turnaround in St. Louis.

“I’m not looking to say that me making one start is going to sparkplug this team,” said Flaherty. It’s going to take a whole group and a whole collective effort.

“I’m just looking to go out and compete every five days and try to win as many ball games as I can.”

If the end of his season looks like the start, he can still rack up some W’s, give fans a reason to come to the ballpark  and set the tone for 2022. 

Welcome back Jack.