Tigers Teetering Rotation Cannot Handle Struggling Version of Jack Flaherty
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The Detroit Tigers are having a rough go of it as of late as their lead in the American League Central continues to shrink more and more.
With the latest defeat coming via a series loss to a Minnesota Twins team that sold nearly every single valuable player they had during the trade deadline, some fans and pundits have started to hit the panic button on the season.
There's still plenty of time to get things back on track with the largest divisional lead in baseball; however, now that the trade deadline has come and gone, this team has what it has in terms of weaknesses and strengths.
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One of the major weaknesses which had been a huge strength at the start of the season has been the starting rotation.
Outside of Tarik Skubal, virtually everyone on the staff has suffered either injuries, major inconsistencies or even both.
Perhaps the most prominent victim in the inconsistency department has been arguably Detroit's most significant offseason acquisition in Jack Flaherty.
Why is Flaherty Struggling For Tigers Right Now?
The 29-year-old has shown serious flashes of brilliance at times this year and the overall numbers are not horrible by any means, but he has not been the version of himself he was last year prior to shipping him away at the trade deadline.
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In 2024, Flaherty had a 2.95 ERA and 0.956 WHIP in 18 starts for Detroit. This year, those figures have climbed to a 4.56 ERA and 1.280 WHIP, with now an American League-leading 11 losses.
On Wednesday night, the right-hander had one of his worst starts of the season to drop the series against the Twins, lasting just 4.2 innings and allowing eight hits along with five earned runs.
It's a particularly disappointing development considering that in his two previous starts, Flaherty had given up a total of just seven hits and one run as well as 14 strikeouts over 12 innings pitched.
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If the Tigers are going to have any chance of keeping things on the rails and hanging onto their division lead, not to mention a possible run in October, they need the version of Flaherty he was starting to look like prior to Wednesday.
Showing two different sides of himself, Detroit cannot afford the struggling side of Flaherty, they simply must have him at his best.
If that can happen, it's going to go a long way towards getting this staff to a place where it looks a whole lot closer to what it did at the start of the season, rather than the last month.
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Michael Brauner is a 2022 graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in Sports Media. He covers various MLB teams across the On SI network and you can also find his work on Yellowhammer News covering the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers as well as on the radio producing and co-hosting 'The Opening Kickoff' every weekday morning on 105.5 WNSP FM in Mobile, Alabama.