Jack Flaherty's non-baseball beliefs shouldn't affect your take on his baseball ability
He's a very talented young pitcher and has a personality and voice, so be it.
A certain faction of baseball fans would like their team’s players to be efficient robots, devoid of a human personality. Fun and cool personalities like Adam Wainwright defy that myth on occasion, but it’s a real thing.
There’s a solid case to be made that St. Louis Cardinals fans dislike Jack Flaherty for more than his injury-riddled body tendencies in recent years; basically, they don’t like his “wokeness,” or whatever term fits the quota of having an opinion about life and having beliefs of his own.
Quick but painful question for you: Why is it so fucking bad that Flaherty express his views on politics, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other timely and discussion-required topics in our world at the moment?
He isn’t like Bono or Bruce Springsteen, where they will berate you with their political beliefs at a paid event. Flaherty doesn’t climb the mound at Busch Stadium and ask for the microphone to go over the CNN/Fox News chatter of the day. He uses his voice on Twitter and Instagram, which is something A LOT OF athletes and celebrities do these days. You know, they’re actually human underneath that irresistible ability.
But if you scroll Twitter, or read any chat room conversations, people dislike this element and use it against him as a negativity. Ladies and gents, Flaherty doesn’t stand up at the top of each morning begging to be fucking injured. “Hey world, please hurt my body so strangers can dissect every single word I say on social media.”
Nope. Not happening.
Here’s what I care about: The impact Flaherty can have on the rotation from the date that he returns until the date the Cards are eliminated from playing more real baseball games. That’s it. Scrub the rest.
Is it magical and Twitter retweet and like heaven to have Wainwright play and say so many lovely things that just fit the definition of the American Dream? Yep. The man is like a walking cowboy/athlete dream.
But when dawn hits, it’s the stats that we really crave--or should be craving. That’s why we’re watching, not to make this a social club. More than likely, the players don’t know of you individually or even recognize when you attend a game-so stick to the stats, right?
Life isn’t that simple, I guess. Baseball is a big drama show due to people critiquing a player outside of the game. Here’s the nuts and bolts of Flaherty’s return: What can he do on a mound?
Can he be the guy that assembled a 3.22 ERA with a 9.8 strikeout rate last season?
Can he be the guy that wowed Cardinal Nation in the second half of 2019?
The 3.34/3.86 (ERA, FIP) guy from 2018 would do just fine too. Flaherty doesn’t have to save the rotation or team; he just has to strengthen it.
When it comes to your take on Flaherty’s baseball talent, keep your take on his non-baseball talent out of it. It’s easy. Practice if you find this all confusing.
I've never understood why we think athletes should keep their mouths shut, just because their athletes. They have every right to speak out like everyone else.