Jack Flaherty: The Ace Who Electrified MLB in 2024

At the end of the 2023 season, Jack Flaherty went from a frontline starter with the Cardinals to a fringe bullpen piece for a Orioles team that was swept in the ALDS by the eventual World Series champion Rangers.

Flaherty signed a one-year, $14 million deal with the Tigers looking to re-establish himself as an All-Star caliber starter. In 2018 with St. Louis, Flaherty finished fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting and finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting the following season.

Flaherty excelled in his brief time with Detroit, posting a 2.95 ERA in 18 starts with the highlight of his time there being a dominant 14 strikeout performance across 6⅔ shutout innings against his former team, the Cardinals.

Out west, the Dodgers continued to reign over the National League West, but with an injury to Yoshinobu Yamamoto and with the Padres and Diamondbacks right on the team’s heels, the Dodgers once again became active at the trade deadline.

As the deadline expired, the Dodgers struck a deal with Detroit that sent Flaherty, a Burbank native and Harvard Westlake alumnus, to his hometown team in exchange for shortstop Trey Sweeney and catcher/first baseman Thayron Liranzo.

Flaherty wore number nine while with Harvard Westlake and with the Tigers, but with Gavin Lux having donned that number since 2020, Flaherty elected to wear the number zero. He became the first Dodger to wear the number since outfielder Al Oliver in 1985.

Flaherty immediately announced his presence within the Dodgers’ rotation in his first start against the Oakland A’s, where he tossed six shutout innings with seven strikeouts.

In the month of September, the Dodgers starting pitching depth ran extremely thin. Yamamoto returned after missing three months due to a triceps strain, but Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, and Gavin Stone were all ruled out for the remainder of the season.

A glaring issue for the rotation was their inability to control the opposing offense in September. It became a recurring theme to see Dodgers starters allow at least three earned runs in their starts, and it was no different for Flaherty.

In his final three starts of the season, Flaherty allowed 10 earned runs in a span of 14 innings, ballooning his ERA from 2.86 to 3.17 by season’s end.

Constructing the postseason rotation was the biggest challenge for the Dodgers. Flaherty became the de-facto ace of the rotation, with Yamamoto and the oft-injured Walker Buehler filling in the slots behind him. The lack of starting pitching depth forced the Dodgers to opt for multiple bullpen games in October.

Flaherty’s postseason run can be summarized by the term hit-or-miss. After Yamamoto was tasked for starting Game 1 of the NLDS against the Padres, Flaherty got the nod for Game 2. The Dodgers were stymied offensively by San Diego starter Joe Musgrove, while Flaherty allowed four earned runs over 5⅓ innings of work in a loss.

Yamamoto reversed his misfortunes against the Padres in Game 5, delivering five shutout innings in the Dodgers’ 2-0 series clinching win to set up an NLCS matchup against the Mets, where Flaherty was named the Game 1 starter.

Backed by nine runs from his offense, Flaherty shut out the Mets over seven strong innings while racking up six strikeouts in a Game 1 win. In Game 5, with the Dodgers just a win away from advancing to the World Series, Flaherty imploded for eight earned runs across just three innings of work. Flaherty later revealed that he was under the weather for Game 5, with a noticeable dip in velocity on his fastball being a factor in the loss.

Flaherty had his chance to bounce back as he took the mound for Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees. Even after allowing a go-ahead two-run home run to Giancarlo Stanton, Flaherty performed well across 5⅓ innings, collecting six strikeouts, limiting the Yankees’ top three hitters to just two hits over eight at-bats.

The Dodgers once again called on Flaherty for a potential series-winning Game 5, and again, failed to limit the opposing offense, allowing five runs in just 1⅓ innings, allowing first inning home runs to Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Had it not been for the Dodgers improbable comeback, Flaherty would’ve been dealt the loss and the series would’ve returned back to Los Angeles for Game 6.

2024 particulars

Age: 28

Stats: 6-2, 3.58 ERA, 1.283 WHIP, 61 K, 19 BB, 55⅓ IP, 108 ERA+, 0.7 rWAR, 0.8 fWAR with LA

Salary: $14 million ($4,666,667 paid by Dodgers)

Game of the year

Flaherty’s biggest highlight as a Dodger was his Game 1 start in the NLCS against the Mets. Flaherty tossed seven shutout innings and collected six strikeouts while limiting the Mets to just two hits. The bullpen came in to record the final six outs and helped extend the Dodgers’ scoreless streak to 33 innings, tying the 1966 Orioles for the longest scoreless streak in postseason history.

Roster status

Flaherty is a free agent.