Right-hander Flaherty is among Cardinals’ September call-ups
ST. LOUIS, Mo.The St. Louis Cardinals promoted five players from their minor league system, as Major League Baseball rosters are allowed to expand up to 40 players beginning Friday.
Inclued were right-handed pitcher Jack Flaherty from Memphis, who got the start in Friday’s game in San Francisco. The Redbirds also announced that they have purchased the contract of rookie right-handed pitcher Sandy Alcántara from Springfield (AA) and the contract of catcher Alberto Rosario from Memphis. In addition, infielder Alex Mejia and outfielder Harrison Bader have been recalled from Memphis.
The Cardinals also announced that left-handed pitcher Sean Gilmartin has been outrighted off of the team’s 40-man roster, creating space for today’s additions.
Falherty, 21, was the club’s first-round pick in 2014. He is the fourth Cardinals pitcher to make his Major League debut this season and the first Cardinals pitcher since Kurt Kepshire (1984) to debut as a starter in San Francisco.
The 6-4, 225-pound right-hander was 14-4 with a 2.18 ERA over 25 starts between Springfield (AA) and Memphis (AAA) this season. He struck out 147 batters in 148.2 innings with a 1.04 WHIP, allowing only 12 home runs and posted identical 7-2 records in both Springfield and Memphis.
He’s leading all Cardinals minor league pitchers in wins, ERA and strikeouts, something no Cardinals’ minor league pitcher has done since Rick Ankiel in 1999.
Flaherty’s 14 wins rank T-3rd among all minor league pitchers in 2017 and he’s the first Cardinals’ minor league right-handed pitcher to record 14 wins in a season since Seth Maness did so in 2012. His 2.18 ERA ranks 12th among minor league full-season pitchers, while his 1.04 WHIP ranks 18th.
Flaherty was selected to pitch in the Futures Games at the 2017 MLB All-Star Game in Miami and pitched the sixth inning for the USA Team. He was recognized as a Texas League Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star while earning Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Month and Texas League Pitcher of the Month honors in April.
He is a high school teammate of current Major League pitchers Lucas Giolito of the Chicago White Sox and Max Fried of the Atlanta Braves.
Alctantara is a 6-5, 185-pound 21-year-old right hander from San Juan in the Dominican Republic. He was an international free agent signed by the Cardinals on July 2, 2013 and was 7-5 with a 4.31 ERA in 25 games for Springfield of the Texas League.
Rosario, 30, has been in the minors for nine seasons and joined the Cardinals organization in 2015. He made his major league debut on July 9, 2016. In 50 games in Memphis, he was hitting .247 and .310 with runners in scoring position.
Mejia, a fourth-round draft pick in 2012, is a right-handed hitting infielder. He was 3-for-14 in an earlier stint with St. Louis.
Bader also is making his second tour of St. Louis after scoring the game-winning run against Colorado in his major league debut July 25. He hit .286 in six games with the big-league club. He’s hitting .283 with 20 home runs, 55 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 123 games in Memphis.
This story was originally published September 1, 2017 at 8:37 PM with the headline "Right-hander Flaherty is among Cardinals’ September call-ups."