Jack Flaherty went from elite prospect to merely elite in one season — and really only in one half season. The Cardinals right-hander was 8-9 as a rookie in 2018 and then 11-8 this past season, but those totals tell nothing of the story.
For one, Flaherty’s earned run average decreased from a tidy 3.34 to a gaudy 2.75 in 2019, and the second half of the season was off most of the charts for the 24-year-old.
Flaherty’s second-half ERA of 0.91 was the third lowest of all time. A whopping 30.7% of the swings opposing hitters took against Flaherty’s pitches never made contact.