Tigers Star Jack Flaherty Reveals Main Reason Why He Chose Return to Detroit
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The Detroit Tigers went into the offseason needing the both find a way to take the next step as a team while also keeping their free agents who contributed heavily to last year's team.
Guys like Kyle Finnegan and Gleyber Torres were retained with Finnegan signing on for multiple years and Torres agreeing to the qualifying offer, but one surprise was Jack Flaherty. The right-hander opted into the second season of his deal rather than hitting free agency for the second straight winter.
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Originally arriving on a one-year deal ahead of the 2024 season, the Tigers traded away Flaherty to the Los Angeles Dodgers where he won a World Series before electing to return for the 2025 season.
With Flaherty now back and ready to help the team win in 2026, he talked about the decision to return and what the biggest factor was in accepting the $20 million option to stay with Detroit.
Flaherty Loves Playing for Tigers
"This is an unbelievable team in here," Flaherty said via Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (subscription required). "It’s an unbelievable group of guys. It’s a group you want to be a part of….I’ve gotten a lot better the last two years being here. Another year working with [the coaching staff] and building those relationships through another offseason, to go back and forth with them, it pays dividends...not everything is about money. Especially when you are in a place you feel you have a chance to win."
For as spectacular as Flaherty was in the first half of 2024 before the trade deadline, he was not quite able to find that magic again in 2025. He showed flashes of brilliance and critically was able to stay healthy all year, but the overall body of work was far from spectacular.
Now, if Flaherty can turn back the clock, it could present a massive boost for a Detroit pitching staff which has as high a ceiling as any group in all of baseball.
Can Flaherty Get Back to 2024 Version of Himself for Tigers?
Over 18 starts with Detroit in 2024, Flaherty had a 2.95 ERA and 0.956 WHIP with the highest strikeout rate and lowest walk rate of his career, accounting for a 2.4 bWAR over 106.2 innings.
Down the stretch and in the postseason for Los Angeles, his numbers fell off a bit and in 2025, he turned in a 4.64 ERA and 1.280 WHIP with an American League leading 15 losses over 31 starts. His bWAR was just 0.8 and inconsistency was the word of the year for the 30-year-old.
When he was on though, Flaherty was as good as anyone, he just was not able to find it week in and week out. There is no staff better equipped than the Tigers to help Flaherty unlock his maximum potential, and clearly he feels the same way.
It's not a small number he is playing for on the 2026 option, so Detroit would really love to see Flaherty at his best. Clearly, the right-hander feels the Motor City is the best place to reach that best.
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.