What Cardinals rotation will look like with Jack Flaherty back

With Jack Flaherty returning from injury soon, what will the Cardinals rotation look like with him back?

Miraculously, the St. Louis Cardinals currently lead the National League Central. While their lead is just 0.5 games above the second place Milwaukee Brewers, this is especially impressive as the club has been without its ace Jack Flaherty all season so far.

Flaherty, still just 26 years of age, has been leading this Cardinals rotation each year dating back to 2018 where he finished fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year Award voting.

Unfortunately for all parties involved, the young ace entered the 2022 season dealing with right shoulder bursitis which kept him sidelined throughout Spring Training and into the regular season.

The good news, is that Flaherty is on the fast track to a return, making his second rehab start in Triple-A yesterday where he allowed just a single hit with six strikeouts over four innings for Memphis.

What will the Cardinals rotation look like when Jack Flaherty returns?

Oli Marmol, the Cardinals manager, has said that if all goes well with Flaherty’s rehab process, it’s not out of the question to see him return as soon as the club’s next road trip which begins June 17. This is an incredible injury update for Flaherty, who seems to be inching closer and closer to a return.

As things currently stand, the Redbirds’ rotation is as follows: Adam Wainwright, Dakota Hudson, Zack Thompson, Miles Mikolas and Andre Pallante.

The likeliest move here is for Thompson to return to the minor leagues when Flaherty returns. Thompson looked sharp in a four-inning relief outing recently but he is the least experienced arm on the staff and will likely be the one to go down.

When Flaherty returns to the rotation, he seems a good choice to slot into the No. 3 spot in the rotation, replacing Thompson. With a resurgent Adam Wainwright and Dakota Hudson continuing to look sharp, they have earned their spots atop the rotation. Flaherty makes even more sense as a temporary No. 3 starter for them since he has yet to make a single appearance at the big league level this season.

Miles Mikolas and Andre Pallante are likely to stick in their current slots as well. Mikolas has a sparkling 2.93 ERA with 60 strikeouts and just 15 walks in 73+ innings to begin the season.

Pallante has looked excellent to begin his big league career as well, as he currently sports a 1.04 ERA through his first 34+ innings in the majors. He has made just two starts so far this year with the majority of his outings coming out of the bullpen but he is doing all the right things to stay at the back end of the starting-five for the Cards.