Tigers Splash Free Agent Signing Starting to Dominate After Ugly Start to Year

The Detroit Tigers are the best team in Major League Baseball and the first to 40 wins as they seemingly just keep dominating their opponents.

Now nearly 40 percent of the way into the season, the Tigers have seen both the best and worst kinds of performances from their entire lineup and pitching staff, but there was one player who was struggling to get it going.

After signing a significant contract late in free agency to return to Detroit, right-hander Jack Flaherty had been lagging a bit behind his teammates when it came to elite production from the starting rotation.

Flaherty was not horrible at the beginning of the year, but he was not what they hoped he could be and was certainly not what he was for Detroit last year before being dealt.

After his worst start of the year on May 10 against the Texas Rangers, the ERA for the 29-year-old was up to a 4.61. Flaherty has figured something out in the four starts since though, and it's starting to pay off.

Jack Flaherty Has Been Sensational For Tigers Last Several Weeks

After a dominant six innings on Monday night against the Chicago White Sox in which he gave up one run on four hits, Flaherty has lowered his ERA on the year to 3.72 alongside a WHIP of 1.087 with 76 strikeouts in 65.1 innings pitched.

Narrowing in on the four starts, Flaherty has a 2.22 ERA with 26 strikeouts compared to just six walks in 24.1 innings pitched. The last three are even better with an ERA of 1.93, WHIP of 0.75, and staggering opposing batting average of just .141.

If this is really the beginning of the veteran starting to put it all together and not just a little hot streak for Flaherty, this is going to be an absolutely massive development fir the potential of this Detroit team.

The rotation already has best in baseball potential, but they cannot get there without their No. 2 at his absolute best.

With young rookie Jackson Jobe now out for the next month at least, Flaherty's performance gets even more critical.

Right now, he's passing the test with flying colors.

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