Former St. Louis Cardinals players Jack Flaherty and Lane Thomas are having outstanding postseason performances. Former St. Louis Cardinals players Jack Flaherty and Lane Thomas are having outstanding postseason performances.
The St. Louis Cardinals’ player development team was rightfully restructured this offseason after Gary LaRocque and the franchise parted ways. LaRocque was ultimately responsible for some recent scouting failures, including the inability to develop top-tier players like as Dylan Carlson and (perhaps) Jordan Walker.
Perhaps more worrying are former Cardinals who have excelled on other clubs, which are numerous. Last season, Adolis Garcia and Randy Arozarena plagued St. Louis baseball fans in the playoffs. Garcia went on to win the World Series with the Texas Rangers.
This October, the punishment could be considerably worse. Jack Flaherty and Lane Thomas, both former Cardinals, had memorable playoff moments on consecutive days.
Lane Thomas is a former Cardinals outfielder who didn’t work out
Thomas hit a grand slam against Tarik Skubal in Game 5 of the Cleveland Guardians’ ALDS series victory against the Detroit Tigers. That Skubal man is really good. In fact, he’s the frontrunner to win the American League Cy Young Award! Thomas was a former Cardinals prospect who fizzled out in 2021.
He spent three seasons in the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals, but his final season began with a 32-game losing streak.104/.259/.125 with one RBI over that time period. It’s difficult to blame the Cardinals for punting on Thomas, but perhaps it reflects more on their development staff than the guy himself.
Jack Flaherty is making Cardinals fans pay
Unlike Thomas, Flaherty excelled in Cardinals colors for the better part of seven seasons. However, the homegrown ace hit a wall in 2023 and was moved to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for prospects during a contract year. Flaherty placed fourth in the NL Cy Young voting in 2019, but was unable to recreate his success until this season in Detroit.
This season, Flaherty went 7-5 with Detroit and was subsequently traded to Los Angeles at the deadline. Flaherty grew up a Dodgers fan in California, so the deal was a dream come true for him, and it ended up benefiting both sides. Trey Sweeney, who was transferred to Detroit as part of the return package, helped the Tigers reach the postseason.
Meanwhile, Flaherty had one of his greatest starts of the season in the NLCS Game 1. Flaherty allowed only two hits and no runs over seven innings.
