Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty to face live hitters Thursday

Flaherty was limited to 78 1/3 innings pitched over 17 games (15 starts) in 2021 due to an oblique injury followed by a shoulder strain. Flaherty's shoulder issues carried over into the offseason and he has not pitched yet in 2022.

When healthy, the 26-year-old has already shown to be one of the premier starters in the National League. A former first-round pick, Flaherty debuted in 2017, finished fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2018 and had a full breakout campaign in 2019.

That season, Burbank, Ca. native went 11-8 with a 2.75 ERA over 196 1/3 innings in 33 starts, while striking out 231 batters and leading the league in WHIP (0.96) and hits per nine innings (6.2). Flaherty captured the NL Pitcher of the Month honors in both August and September 2019 and ended up placing fourth in the NL Cy Young vote.

In 93 career regular season games (90 starts), Flaherty has posted a 32-24 record with a 3.34 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 567 strikeouts over 487 1/3 innings pitched.