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The Cardinals are going to have a tough decision to make with their starting rotation soon. The success of all the starters is what makes this a tough decision though, so it’s not all bad. With Alex Reyes starting on Wednesday, and Carlos Martinez‘ return on the horizon, the Cards front office will have to choose an odd man out. It’s hard to say who that will be, but Jack Flaherty should stay in the rotation.

Flaherty Should Stay

With a very solid outing on Saturday, Flaherty helped his case for remaining in the rotation. He allowed just one run, on four hits, over six innings against the Pittsburg Pirates, who have been one of the NL Central’s better teams. That outing lowered his season ERA to 2.15 and improved his record to 2-1.

In just five starts in 2018, Flaherty already has a 1.1 WAR, according to baseball reference. He has also allowed a BABIP of just .261 and owns a FIP of 3.25. His ERA- is an astonishing 56 and his FIP- is an almost equally impressive 82. If that isn’t enough to help the Cardinals decide that Flaherty should stay in the rotation, they should look at his minor league numbers.

The young right hander showed last season that he had nothing left to prove in the minor leagues. Between Double-A and Triple-A he went 14-4, with a 2.18 ERA, in 148.2 innings over 25 starts. He also struck out 147 batters and walked just 35. Unfortunately, Jack struggled when he was called up last year, posting an 0-2 record and a 6.33 ERA in five starts, so the Cardinals ultimately decided he should start 2018 in Memphis. While in Memphis, Flaherty picked up right where he had left off there last season. He got five starts for the Redbirds this year, going 4-1 with a 2.27 ERA. In 31.2 innings, he had a WHIP of 0.916 and struck out 41 hitters. This made it easy for the Cardinals to recall him when they ran into injury troubles and it should make it easier for them to see that he needs to remain in the big league rotation until he proves otherwise.

The Odd Man Out

The fact remains when Reyes and Martinez get back, someone has to go. They could go to a six man rotation, but it doesn’t seem like that’s something they’re going to pursue. The obvious first man out when Reyes comes back is John Gant. Gant is 1-2 with a 4.76 ERA and despite his 2.27 FIP, he’s just giving up too many runs.

The tough decision is who Carlos Martinez will replace when he is ready to go. It won’t be Michael Wacha, Reyes, or Miles Mikolas. That leaves two possibilities, Luke Weaver or Jack Flaherty. So far, the numbers favor Flaherty. Weaver has been good in his last three starts and will get another opportunity today against the Brewers, but in his four starts before this streak, it was rough sailing. He allowed four or more runs in each of the fours starts, even giving up six in one of them. Weaver also had a streak of five games where the deepest he went was 5.1 innings. Those outings hurt his cause, giving him a 3-4 record, a 4.31 ERA, an ERA+ of just 89, and a FIP of 3.51. When you compare those numbers to Flaherty’s, Weaver looks to be the odd man out when the Cardinals’ Ace, Martinez, makes his return.

This article was originally written by former TSJ101SPORTS MLB Department editor and writer Canyon Clark. Due to systems modalities, the article has been assigned to the author tag designation “Former Writers”.

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