Why Dodgers are concerned about Jack Flaherty ahead of Game 1 World Series start
The Dodgers head into Game 1 of the World Series with a question mark.Jack Flaherty is starting the opener Friday night, despite getting lit up in his last start in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series when he experienced a noticeable drop in velocity.That drop has the team’s pitching coach, Mark Prior, “moderately concerned,” according to ESPN.
Flaherty got torched for eight runs in just three innings against the Mets and had an average fastball velocity of 91.4 MPH.This is down significantly from his season average of 93.3 MPH.
The eight runs he allowed are the most he coughed up in any game this season.The Dodgers, for now, are chopping it up to less rest in the postseason, but their pitching coach is still concerned about the development.
“Obviously, everybody knows — the more velocity, the better, usually – unless you’re going way below hitting speed,” Prior told reporters at World Series media day Thursday.“Concern, yeah, because obviously he was pitching on regular rest and it was a little bit down.
“Can he pitch with it? Yeah.He’s somebody who’s more about execution that anything.
And I think they did a really good job of game planning the second time through, sitting on some of their slower spin stuff.But I think with extra rest and what we saw in bullpens, I feel pretty confident that he can get back to where he was the other time.”Flaherty, though, did throw seven shutout innings to open the NLCS and will have six days rest heading into this start.Flaherty, whom the Dodgers acquired at the trade deadline and someone the Yankees had significant interest in before refusing to sign off on his medical history due to a back concern, is now a major subplot of the World Series.
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