Jack Flaherty accomplishes feat that not even Bob Gibson pulled off with Cardinals

Jack Flaherty has quickly become the unquestioned ace on the St. Louis Cardinals staff.

Jack Flaherty has accomplished something no other player in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform has done before him.

Still firmly in the early part of his illustrious career, Flaherty recorded his 500th career strikeout on Monday night, becoming the first Cardinals pitcher to surpass 500 K’s in less than 100 appearances.

Flaherty has 503 career strikeouts in only 80 appearances in Cardinals uniform. Only in his age-25 season, the sky is the limit for the St. Louis right-hander.

Flaherty is well on his way to becoming an NL All-Star for the first time in his career this season.

St. Louis Cardinals: Jack Flaherty can mow hitters down like no one’s business

Flaherty boasts a 3-0 record in his four starts for the Red Birds this season. He has a 3.80 ERA in 21.1 innings pitched with a WHIP of 1.125. His 21 strikeouts are coming at a strong clip of 8.9 per nine innings pitched. It might be a different era, but when your ace pitcher is mowing down hitters like the late great Bob Gibson used to, the greater St. Louis baseball world has to take notice of it.

Overall, the Cardinals are at .500 with an 8-8 record through 16 games. This has them 1.5 games back of the Cincinnati Reds for the NL Central division lead. While the Cardinals were seen as the favorite to come out of the NL Central this year, they do have plenty of time to catch up to the Milwaukee Brewers and surpass the Reds in the division standings. This race is far from over.

As long as Flaherty continues to pitch like this, the Cardinals will be in the mix for the postseason.