Cardinals ace has ‘small’ tear in right shoulder. Here is the latest on his condition

The St. Louis Cardinals have thus far dodged the worst case scenario regarding the injury to ace righthander Jack Flaherty, but the next two weeks might still portend an extended period of absence.

President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak announced Friday that Flaherty returned Thursday to Los Angeles and on Friday received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right shoulder from Dr. Neal ElAttrache to promote healing of what the club has termed a “small” tear of the SLAP (superior labrum anterior to posterior) in Flaherty’s right, throwing shoulder.

“What we know right now is it will be a couple of days of rest, and then two weeks of no throughout during that period, we will use that to evaluate what those next steps look like,” Mozeliak said.

“The easiest way to think about it is probably a small tear, SLAP tear, but they still think this is something that he can pitch through. So our fingers are crossed.”

Flaherty missed 61 games in the 2021 season with an oblique strain, and then a further 30 games with what the team then termed a shoulder strain after only three appearances following his initial return from the injured list. Those two injuries were his first which required him to miss extended time since being drafted by the Cardinals in 2014.

Players were not permitted to have any contact with their teams – including with the medical staff – during MLB’s 99-day-long lockout this winter. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said earlier this week that the team was aware of Flaherty’s continuing discomfort during meetings held in the runup to the lockout, and Mozeliak affirmed Friday that players were free to seek private medical treatment during the winter without violating their contracts.

Said Mozeliak, “Jack is a human being and if he needed medical service, he could go seek it.”

Mozeliak also said that the club did not provide specific instructions on what a player should do if they developed discomfort during their offseason training program while locked out, but that, “I think everybody that’s been around this game sort of understands (that a player should stop). But we didn’t have a written strategy for what to do.”

Flaherty is one of two pitchers the Cardinals have lost to shoulder injuries in the opening week of camp. Alex Reyes, an All-Star closer in 2021, was diagnosed with a frayed labrum and received a stem cell injection at the Andrews Institute in Pensacola, Fla.

Mozeliak said that Reyes will be instructed not to throw for “at least” two weeks, and that the club expects his return to the majors in late May or early June.

No firm timeline

For Flaherty, there is not yet such a firm timeline. The two week rest period will provide the team and Flaherty’s doctors an opportunity to evaluate the healing provided by his injection and consider what potential next steps may include.

An article published by the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Medicine News in 2018 describes baseball’s history of SLAP injuries under the headline, “How to Survive Baseball’s

‘Most Fearsome Injury,’” defining some of the club’s more dire concerns even as they profess that Flaherty’s injury requires more evaluation time.

“Any time you’re going to see a doctor, that’s concerning,” Mozeliak conceded. So, you know, our fingers are crossed that this is something that he can work through and get back.”

Fingers crossed, possible help

Even as Mozeliak twice in 10 minutes admitted to having his fingers crossed, he professed confidence in the club’s internal options to take Flaherty’s place in the starting rotation. Swingman Aaron Brooks, who struck out five of the six hitters he faced in Friday’s Grapefruit League opener, is a candidate, as are Drew VerHagen and Jake Woodford.

Mozeliak expressed skepticism about the viability of stepping outside of the organization for starting help, saying, “we’re always looking beyond these walls. The reality is that that group is thinning out quite a bit right now.”

The group inside the walls is rapidly thinning as well.

This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 5:40 PM.