Recently Traded Detroit Tigers Pitcher Named Player With ‘Most to Prove'
The Detroit Tigers traded Jack Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the trade deadline, a move that was expected entering the deadline. Flaherty signed a one-year prove-it deal with the Tigers and proved more than anyone could've expected, raising his value higher than it's ever been.
It'll be interesting to see how the remainder of his year plays out with the Dodgers, as he'll have lofty expectations there.
While pitching in Major League Baseball is filled with pressure, no matter where, it's much different in Los Angeles than it is in Detroit right now. The Dodgers have World Series aspirations, and considering that he was their biggest move at the trade deadline, fans will certainly expect him to be the pitcher he's been throughout the first few months of the campaign.
In his first start with Los Angeles, he tossed six innings of five-hit baseball, allowing zero earned runs and striking out seven.
Despite that recent outing, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report believes that Flaherty is one of the players with the most to prove for the remainder of 2024.
"So, there's that. And also, you know, just the pressure of helping the Dodgers hang on to their NL West lead and pushing them as deep into October want to go."
"It's so far, so good on this end for Flaherty. He was excellent in his Dodgers debut on Saturday, hurling six shutout innings with seven strikeouts and one walk."
He then added that there's a chance that Flaherty will be kept out of the Dodgers rotation in the postseason, but that seems highly unlikely after what they just moved to get him.
"If Flaherty doesn't keep this up, though, he could potentially be left out of a playoff rotation that will only have so much room for him, Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone and Yoshinobu Yamamoto if he's healthy."
Teams were lining up at the door for the Tigers right-hander, and suggesting that he'll be out of a rotation in October doesn't make much sense unless his back injury flares up.
More important than anything, especially from his perspective, is that he hits for agency at the end of the year.
If he wants to get paid like one of the top pitchers on the market in a few months, he'll have to keep it up. All indications point to him doing just that, so expect Flaherty to get paid handsomely in the offseason.
JON CONAHAN