JUPITER, Fla. — If the 2023 St. Louis Cardinals hope to be relevant deep into October, they'll need a healthy Jack Flaherty.
Flaherty has only pitched in 35 games the past three years combined and is tired of watching big games from the dugout.
"It sucked watching the last three playoff games we've had. Even coming down the stretch, I got to throw more this year in September and whatnot but watching three playoff games and losses has been awful. That's not something you want. You want the ball in your hands, you want to be a part of it, but feeling like all I could do was watch is not where you want to be. So, yeah, I plan on being there," Flaherty said at Cardinals camp in Jupiter.
2023 isn't just an important year for Flaherty to have a big year for his team. It's a contract year for the 27-year-old starter.
"You like to think of every year as just another year, and to a certain extent, it is. But then, to a certain extent, it's the last year under contract here, it's Waino's last year and there's a lot of moving pieces with everything going on. First and foremost we just want to win. So if we go out and play the way we should and pitch the way we should to lead to winning baseball, everything else will take care of itself," Flaherty said.
And when posed the question of if he could see himself as a Cardinal for years to come, Flaherty didn't rule it out.
"I think whatever happens happens. I wouldn't put it past it. We just go out and, there's not hiding what's going on this year, so, yeah," Flaherty said.
He may still seem like a young gun, but Flaherty has been around for a while now, debuting all the way back in 2017. And he's enjoying the added veteran responsibilities that come with an evolving career.
"You just embrace the way roles change. Guys come to me now to ask me questions and you look out for other guys... You learn from guys like Waino and the way they handle it, and the way he helped me out and you treat guys like he does," Flaherty said.
Speaking of Adam Wainwright, it's the long-time Cardinal's final year. And Flaherty shared a story that showcases just what Waino has meant to him over his career.
"After I got called up in 2017, we sat down in the clubhouse for two hours after the last game of the season, we had been eliminated the day before. And he gave me two hours of his time. And it was only two hours because we got kicked out of the clubhouse... I wrote everything down and still have the notes. That's who he is and who he's always been. Anytime I have a question, he's there," Flaherty said.
Flaherty and all Cardinals pitchers will have a new world to adjust to on the mound, with the implementation of the pitch clock, pickoff rules and shift restrictions. Flaherty said the change in the product will likely be easy to see.
"Everybody's gonna have to make an adjustment, the game is going to be very fast and it's going to move very quickly," Flaherty said.