Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty fed up with media’s obsession over his fastball velocity: “I'm tired of it"
Jack Flaherty has seen a dip in velocity for the St. Louis Cardinals, who are among the worst teams in baseball right now. Reporters have noticed the same and have taken to asking the ace what is going on.
He has reportedly grown tired of this line of questioning and even fought back with reporters who asked about the velocity of his fastball.
Jack Flaherty told the assembled media this evening that he would not answer any questions about his fastball velocity. Here's that dialogue: https://t.co/5555uFTRxj
Flaherty said:
"The next time somebody wants to mention the velocity on my fastball, I'm not going to answer that question. I'm going to play with the velocity of my fastball based on what the game calls for. I can get outs if I need to get outs at 95. I'm going to play with it. I've always played with it. I've thrown frickin' fastballs at 87 before in games when I've been at my best."
He continued admonishing the reporters:
"I'm just saying, because y'all want to make a big deal out of it, and I'm tired of it. It's so ridiculous. I'm gonna go for what the game calls for, and that's part of pitching. So if you want to ask, you don't understand the art of pitching... I'm going to go with what the situation calls for and what the game calls for."
When reporters said they needed to ask to know that, an incensed Flaherty responded:
"Then you don't understand pitching."
It's safe to say the pitcher is fed up with reporters right now.
Jack Flaherty is struggling mightily
Jack Flaherty has been pretty bad to start the season. Not only has his ERA ballooned into the 6.18 range, but his FIP of 5.08 is also bad, too. All this has contributed to a -0.2 fWAR thus far.
Even last year in just 36 innings of work due to injuries, he was a net neutral 0.0 fWAR. In the past, he's been good, posting seasons of 2.3 and 4.7 fWAR. Injuries have ravaged him and could be contributing to the decline in velocity.
Whether or not that's making his pitching worse this year is up for debate, but the lack of velocity probably isn't helping anything.