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Jack Flaherty

Cardinals To Promote Jack Flaherty

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The Cardinals will promote right-hander Jack Flaherty from Triple-A Memphis to make his MLB debut by starting Friday’s game against the Giants, per a team announcement. He’s not on the 40-man roster, but this morning’s unexpected trade of Mike Leake to the Mariners opened both a 40-man roster spot as well as a spot in the St. Louis rotation.

Jack Flaherty | Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY SportsFlaherty, 21, was the 34th overall pick in the 2014 draft and ranked as the game’s No. 53 prospect on MLB.com’s midseason top 100 list. Both Baseball America and Fangraphs rated Flaherty comparably, at No. 57, on their own summer rankings of baseball’s top 100 prospects.

Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com note in their free scouting report that Flaherty’s velocity has ticked up to the mid-90s this year, adding that he has three “usable” secondary offerings, with his changeup the best of the bunch as a potential plus pitch down the line. Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen calls him a potential above-average starter, offering a similar take on his improved arsenal in 2017.

The 6’4″, 205-pound Flaherty is a product of Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles — the same program that produced top picks Lucas Giolito and Max Fried. Flaherty opened the 2017 season at Double-A and dominated Texas League opponents to the tune of a 1.42 ERA through 63 1/3 innings before being bumped up to Memphis. His results in the Triple-A International League were similarly impressive, as Flaherty has logged a 2.94 ERA with 9.0 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and a 41 percent ground-ball rate through 85 1/3 frames there.

The Cardinals’ clear hope is the Flaherty, Luke Weaver and currently injured but high-ceilinged Alex Reyes can occupy spots in their rotation for years to come. Flaherty is the last of the bunch to arrive in the Majors, and if he’s here to stay, he won’t qualify for arbitration until after the 2020 season. The earliest that Flaherty could become a free agent, given his current trajectory, would be upon completion of the 2023 campaign.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Cardinals Notes: Rosenthal, Rule 5 Draft, Pitching Staff

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On the disabled list due to a reported ligament issue in his right elbow, Trevor Rosenthal has consulted with Dr. Neal ElAttrache for a second opinion on the best course of action, tweets Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. The Cardinals are expected to make an official announcement on his status tomorrow after going through the results of both tests, though it’s already been reported that a surgical option is at least a possibility for Rosenthal.

More on the Cards…

  • President of baseball operations John Mozeliak tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the Cardinals are rethinking their protection process when it comes to the Rule 5 Draft. St. Louis lost right-hander Luis Perdomo and shortstop Allen Cordoba to the Padres in each of the past two Rule 5 Drafts because the Cardinals’ front office assumed that no team would be comfortable carrying a Class-A player for the entire season in the Majors. (Cordoba, for reference, has just three at-bats all month with the Padres.) However, Mozeliak acknowledges that with more teams opting for complete rebuilds, those clubs can afford to prioritize sheer upside over proximity to the Majors. Goold’s column is well worth a full read-through, as he runs down several players that are locks to be added to the 40-man roster this winter and others that the Cards will have to consider with their new-look approach to this process.
  • Both Bernie Miklasz of 101 ESPN and Jeff Gordon of the Post-Dispatch have penned columns imploring the Cardinal front office to shake up the team’s pitching staff. Injuries to Rosenthal, Adam Wainwright, Kevin Siegrist and the recent struggles of both Mike Leake and Michael Wacha have left the team’s pitching staff looking depleted and vulnerable. As Miklasz points out, every other National League contender has made at least one addition via trade since the season started, but the Cardinals have stood pat. Gordon notes that the pitching problems are hardly a short-term cause for concern. Lance Lynn is a free agent this winter, and each of Wainwright, Leake and Wacha carries his own brand of uncertainty. Miklasz and Gordon call for quick looks at young arms like Luke Weaver, Jack Flaherty, Sandy Alcantara and others, both as a means of remaining competitive in 2017 and evaluating for the future.
  • One of those moves could come in the near future, as Langosch writes. The Cardinals are considering skipping Leake’s slot in the rotation this weekend, per Langosch, and his scheduled start aligns with that of Flaherty in Triple-A. Leake has previously conceded that he’s experiencing some fatigue, and the stats bear that out; Leake logged a 2.24 ERA through his first 10 starts but has an unsightly 5.83 earned run average since June 1. General manager Mike Girsch tells Langosch that “all options are on the table” as the team evaluates its best course of action.

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