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Lance Lynn of the Chicago White Sox would not be the only MLB ace to make his season-debut this week. While Lynn retuned to the bump on Monday for the South Siders, it was reported Tuesday afternoon that St. Louis Cardinals righty Jack Flaherty will be making his first start of 2022 on Wednesday.
According to MLB.com’s John Denton, a “very big factor” in the team having Flaherty debut on Wednesday, instead of getting one more rehab start in were the “advanced metrics on his pitches” and the 26-year-old’s “insistence that his arm and stuff feel as good as they have since 2019. Three years ago, Flaherty had his most dominant campaign, going 11-8 with a 2.75 ERA over 196 1/3 innings in 33 starts, while striking out 231 batters and leading the league in WHIP (0.96) and hits per nine innings (6.2).
He captured the NL Pitcher of the Month honors in both August and September 2019 and ended up placing fourth in the NL Cy Young vote.
The Burbank, Calif. native registered only 78 1/3 innings pitched over 17 games (15 starts) in 2021 due to an oblique injury followed by a shoulder strain. Flaherty’s shoulder issues popped up again to begin 2022, but it was reported in late May that he was set to face live hitters — a big step in his way back to the Cardinals rotation.
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