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In 2019 Jack Flaherty ascended. 2018 was a solid rookie season for the young pitcher, a 151 inning, 2.3 fWAR season that earned him Rookie of the Year votes. In his sophomore campaign in 2019 he built on that success, pitching over 196 innings for 4.7 fWAR, a 2.75 ERA, and 3.46 FIP. It was a good year for Jack and good year for the Cardinals. With Carlos Martínez sidelined with injury, Adam Wainwright in the twilight years of his stellar career, and Miles Mikolas seeing a bit of regression after a great return back to the majors in 2018, it was Flaherty that the Cardinals relied on to be their Ace, the pitcher they turned to when the stakes were highest. In 2020 it becomes official with him taking on the Opening Day start against the Pirates.
A pitcher who threw yesterday could throw every fifth day and be on turn for opening day.
— Derrick S. Goold (@dgoold) July 11, 2020
Jack Flaherty faced hitters yesterday.
A pitcher who threw today could throw every fifth day and be on turn for Game 2 of season.
Adam Wainwright just finished Live BP today.#Cardinals #MLB
"Yeah. He told me. He should probably be the one to tell you guys but oh well." -- Jack Flaherty when asked if Mike Shildt had told him he was the opening day starter.#Cardinals #stlcards #MLB
— Derrick S. Goold (@dgoold) July 15, 2020
The obvious is now official. He'll go Game 2. https://t.co/sWh0uvOLyA
— Derrick S. Goold (@dgoold) July 17, 2020
Jack Flaherty gets Opening Day start for St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates | ESPN
what else is going on in baseball...
Tony Clark: "Alex benefited as much as anybody from the battles this union fought against owners’ repeated attempts to get a salary cap." --- yuuup. https://t.co/qsKQKokvVm
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) July 16, 2020
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2020 Positional Power Rankings: Left Field | FanGraphs Baseball
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what the cardinals are up to...
The following players have been re-assigned to our alternate training site in Springfield:
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 16, 2020
▪️ Seth Elledge
▪️ Rob Kaminsky
▪️ Zack Thompson
▪️ Ivan Herrera
Only Tim McCarver go on a wylin tangent about birds that makes ZERO sense and yet use “ornithology” correctly and without missing a beat. https://t.co/Jje2AqqWFX
— Jordii Entanglement (@LifeOfJordo) July 16, 2020
#STLCards OF @toneill21 is quite the accomplished piano player. He's been able to play music from Beethoven & Bach since grade school.
— KMOXSports (@KMOXSports) July 16, 2020
Surprised?
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Cardinals closer options at Summer Camp | MLB.com