Jack Flaherty must heed mantra for St. Louis Cardinals success

In order to remain on track for success in 2021, St. Louis Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty must follow his mantra: don’t think.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty follows a very simple mantra: don’t think. According to his website, this is a mindset that allows him to be in a zone, achieving a high confidence level through preparation. The mindset provides the confidence he needs to trust his instincts and athletic abilities while blocking out all distractions.

If you paid any attention in 2020 to Flaherty’s social media, it was obvious he was doing a lot of thinking.

He had many things weighing on his mind, including the loss of his friend Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs, the loss of his hero Kobe Bryant, the mounting social justice fight engulfing the United States and the coronavirus that was hitting his team in a shortened 2020 season.

A shortened season that was supposed to see Flaherty be a dominant success.

In 2020, Flaherty started nine games for the Cardinals, finishing the season 4-3 with a 4.91 ERA in 40.1 innings.  In one postseason appearance, he mostly suffered due to the lack of offensive production by his teammates. He threw six innings in his loss where he earned a 1.50 ERA, eight strikeouts and two walks.

After the game, where the Cardinals were eliminated from the playoffs by the San Diego Padres, Flaherty and his teammates learned of the passing of Cardinals pitching legend Bob Gibson. Flaherty and Gibson had developed a friendship and communicated regularly. Knowing his friends worsening condition, he considered wearing Gibson’s No. 45 jersey.

2020 was a lot for the pitcher. There is absolutely nothing wrong with caring, being emotional and being vocal regarding social issues. As his mantra points out, Flaherty needs to remember to block out the major distractions when he’s about to take the mound.

ZiPS believes Flaherty will be a 3.9 WAR pitcher for the Cardinals in 2021, projecting him to throw 31 starts for 171.3 innings, a 3.26 ERA and 215 strikeouts. These projections look more like what we want to see from Flaherty in the years to come.

He already had one major victory this season in winning his arbitration case against the Cardinals to earn a $3.9 million salary. Let’s hope we see the Don’t Think attitude from Flaherty on the mound this season so he may prove to the Cardinals management he’s worth that and more to them going forward.