April 22, 2015
Commodore History Corner Archive
When former Vanderbilt baseball player Ryan Flaherty (2006-08) was growing up in Portland, Maine, he knew which sport to pursue. After all, his father Edward was the head baseball coach at the University of Southern Maine, a Division III school.
“Obviously, he taught me everything I know about the game,” Flaherty said recently. “It was never one of those things where he’d just teach me. I loved asking him questions and hanging around his teams to watch. That was part of the teaching he gave me. This is the game I’ve loved since I was three years old.”
Flaherty was the Gatorade Maine High School Player of the Year as a senior at Deering High School. Baseball America had him ranked as the No. 141 professional prospect in the country. His high school won the 2002 and 2003 state championship while lettering in baseball, football and basketball. Flaherty also helped Nova achieve the 2004 American Legion World Series championship in 2004 and was named the Legion Tournament MVP in 2003.
“During my entire life I thought I’d play baseball at USM for my dad and that would be great,” said Flaherty. “When I got older I realized I wanted to play somewhere in the South. Coach (Tim) Corbin watched me play in a couple of tournaments in the South. He believed in me. It can be tough at times recruiting in the New England area. They don’t play as many games in the year compared to the kids in Florida, Texas or California. They tend to be late bloomers.
“When I visited Vanderbilt I had not thought of it as a baseball school yet, but I saw what they were doing and the direction they were headed with Coach Corbin. My parents thought it would be a good opportunity to play in the SEC. I could attend one of the best colleges in the country and, in my opinion, Coach Corbin is now one of the greatest coaches in college baseball. I fell in love with Vanderbilt right away and it was the best decision I ever made.”
Vanderbilt was 38-27 (16-14 SEC) during Flaherty’s freshman season. Competition was tough on the Commodore diamond. However, he did start 61 games (39 at first base) and finished the season at shortstop.
“I came in wanting to play right away, but at Vanderbilt they had a lot of great players,” said Flaherty. “I think it would be tougher for a freshman to play now. I played shortstop in the first three games. I made about six errors and found myself on the bench after the first week of the season.
“A couple of injuries happened and Coach Corbin asked me if I could play first base. I told him I had never played there, but would and I did. Luckily it gave me a chance to be in the lineup. I got my feet wet and when things turned around I eventually went back to shortstop.”
Flaherty led the Commodores in batting with a .339 average. He collected 49 RBIs with two home runs and a .421 on-base percentage. Flaherty was named an Honorable Mention Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and named to the SEC All-Tournament team.
“Your freshman year is tough,” said Flaherty. “You don’t know what to expect. You never played with any of these players or coaches. I was from Portland, Maine, playing in the Southeastern Conference and never played in any of the cities down there. I got my feet wet and we had a successful season making it to a regional. I knew the program was headed in the right direction at that time. I remember coming home my freshman year and telling my friends that it was like an entirely new country down there.”
Vanderbilt exploded to a 19-0 record to start Flaherty’s sophomore season. In the 10th game, he clubbed a two-run walk-off home run against Boston College in the 7-6 victory. He batted .381 with four home runs and 57 RBIs. Flaherty finished the year with a school single-season 35-game hitting streak and added three more to start the 2008 season for 38 consecutive games with a hit.
“Hit streaks are great, but it is not always an indicator of how you are hitting,” said Flaherty. “Obviously, you are going to get a bunch of hits if you are not walked. It is one of those things where you get into a groove. It seems that balls are falling for you when they normally don’t and I get going. To measure a hitter by a hit streak is not fair and it doesn’t tell the quality of a hitter. When you are batting behind Pedro Alvarez sometimes they have to intentionally walk him. I got a lot of opportunities batting behind him.”
In that season, the Commodores were 54-13 (22-8 SEC) at the time a school record (since tied twice) for wins. Vanderbilt hosted its first-ever regional eventually losing to Michigan in the title game, 4-3 in 10 innings. David Price came out of the bullpen and gave up a solo home run in the 10th frame. Flaherty was a Second Team All-SEC selection, Second Team All-American and All-SEC Tournament Team.
“After my sophomore year I thought the program had taken off,” said Flaherty. “We had a lot of talented players there at the time. Playing in Hawkins Field was exciting with games being sold out almost every game. That was some of the most fun I have played as a baseball player.
“We came into the postseason ranked No. 1 with the best pitcher in the country (Price) and loaded with talent. We were playing good baseball having won the SEC Championship and the SEC Tournament and riding high. That Michigan loss is the most devastating loss at any level of my career. It was a tough loss to see the guys down. We felt we deserved more as a team. But hey, it is baseball and some days the ball doesn’t bounce your way. That just wasn’t our day.”
David Macias (2005-08) is in his second year with the Commodores working in 2015 as a volunteer assistant and first base coach. He was Flaherty’s teammate and roommate at Vanderbilt. Both were drafted by the Chicago Cubs the same year and were roommates when on the same minor league teams. Macias revealed a special talent about his friend.
“We were roommates at Vanderbilt and roomed together during summer ball in college,” said Macias. “We played in Hyannis in the Cape Cod League. Ryan is really good at video games. Maybe he spent too much time playing video games instead of doing other things like studying (Macias laughing). Coach Corbin actually joked around that Flaherty probably would get an “A” in Madden the video game that he played.
“There was a moment in the offseason where we did our training. We did these obstacle course workouts. One part of it was to work as a team, building strength and not leaving anybody behind. It was very physical. This was in my last year when we were doing something very difficult and I remember Ryan screaming the entire team on. He was yelling at the top of his lungs about how we can finish this and how to stick together and get through this. That is one moment that made me realize he was a special guy and a special leader.”
In Flaherty’s junior and final season as a Commodore, the team was 41-13 (14-13 SEC). Flaherty was Second Team All-SEC, and SEC All-Tournament Team. He led the team in home runs (14) and RBIs (63) while batting .324. In Flaherty’s first two seasons he collected six home runs.
“In my opinion I felt it was my worse year offensively,” said Flaherty. “I did hit some home runs and drove in some RBIs, but I didn’t do enough offensively to help the team win. We had a lot of injuries and fell short of our goals. I was a more mature hitter though. I was 21 years old, bigger and didn’t do anything to tweak my stance or approach to the ball. It just naturally happened that my home run production was up.
Flaherty’s nickname is “Flash.” He was given the name in junior high school since he was tall, skinny and gangly. The youngster wasn’t developed enough to run too fast. His favorite team growing up was the Boston Red Sox where his father took him to Fenway Park often.
Ed Flaherty is in his 29th year as head coach of the Southern Maine Huskies. He was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2004 and won two national titles in 1991 and 1997. The senior Flaherty has compiled an impressive 842-379-4 career record.
“Ryan and his brother (Regan) would come to practices and be on my tail everyday,” said Ed Flaherty. “They asked to go to practice every single day. Not once did they not want to go. Ryan played Little League and was tall and skinny. He might have hit one home run and he was very good with the glove. That is where he probably learned to play all these positions. Originally he caught since his Little League team did not have a catcher. And if a guy were missing he’d play the outfield, third base and shortstop. He caught the most and then they started pitching him a little bit, which I wasn’t to keen on pitching and catching because of all the throwing.
“He was a batboy all the time. My wife would drop him off at the games. Ryan was there every game and knew what was going on. We were in the World Series in 1999 when he was 11 years old. It was an eight-team tournament with four games going on at the same time. That started at 10 o’clock in the morning and stopped at 11 o’clock at night. I used to scout every game. He’d sit there through all four games and help me scout the other teams. Ryan had that unusual love for the game that most kids don’t. They’d rather buy an ice cream or run off to the playgrounds.
“I probably helped him when he became a sophomore. As a college coach I recognized his college skills. It was his junior year when he became a little stronger. His arm strength was up to 88 mph across the infield and he ran well. There was a little more pop in his swing. Then he got invited to the Perfect Game national event down at Tropicana Field (Tampa Bay Rays home field). In that particular year there was Justin Upton and all these big guys. That’s when I first recognized that Ryan could play with these kids. After the recruiting process started, he began getting calls from a lot of the big schools.”
Flaherty passed up his final year at Vanderbilt to play professionally in the Cubs minor league organization. It was anticipated he’d be a top 60-70 pick in the 2008 MLB Amateur Draft. The family believed that Seattle, which showed the most interest, would draft Flaherty with their 20th pick, but instead chose Joshua Fields (Georgia). The Cubs took Flaherty with the 41st selection.
Flaherty said that it did not matter which team selected him, and he was excited about the opportunity to play for a great franchise with a lot of tradition. He played four seasons in the Cubs minor league system reaching Triple-A. His best seasons were in 2009 and 2011.
In 2009, in Single-A Peoria, Flaherty appeared in 131 games, batted .276 with 20 home runs and 86 RBIs. Flaherty clubbed 19 home runs driving in 88 runs in 2011 while playing in Double-A Tennessee (Southern League) and Iowa (PCL). He batted .280 with 31 doubles.
“I met a lot of great people with that first experience in professional baseball,” said Flaherty. “I got to play with David Macias, my roommate at Vanderbilt. The Cubs also drafted him. I played with him at every level. It was special to have him as a roommate in college and as a roommate in the minor leagues. I got a chance to play in Jackson, Tenn., one summer in the Southern League, which was in proximity of Nashville. It was a good time.”
During the MLB winter meetings on December 8, 2011, the Baltimore Orioles selected Flaherty from the Cubs in the Rule 5 Draft. Buck Showalter has been the Orioles manager since 2010.
“It was a blessing in disguise,” said Flaherty. “I am with the Cubs in the minor leagues then I’m with the Orioles. That gave me the opportunity to play in the major leagues that a lot of kids dream about. It was another special day.”
Flaherty made the Orioles opening day roster in 2012.
“I was excited to get out there,” Flaherty said. “The first month or so is an adjustment period. It’s like going from high school to college or college to pro ball. It is the same to adjust going to the big leagues from the minors. It was something I dreamed about my whole life. I didn’t play opening day, but about the third game I went in for defense against the Minnesota Twins.
“In my first at-bat I struck out against Toronto. That’s not the way you draw up your first at-bat. My first hit ended up being a bunt single. I was putting down a sacrifice bunt and it turned out to be a hit. I’ll take it. I had about eight at-bats up until then and wanted to get that first hit out of the way.”
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound right-hander slapped his first major league home run on May 10, 2012 in the first game of a doubleheader against Texas in Camden Yards. It came against Rangers’ pitcher Colby Lewis leading off the first inning. Teammates J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis followed with home runs making it back-to-back-to-back. On September 28, Flaherty recorded his first career grand slam off Boston pitcher Aaron Cook.
Baltimore made the playoffs that season and defeated the Rangers in the Wild Card Game. Flaherty went 1-for-3 and became the first Rule 5 player since 1995 to play in a postseason game following his selection. The Yankees beat the Orioles in the Division Series 3-2. Flaherty appeared in three games going 2-for-8 with a solo home run in Game Three in Yankee Stadium. Baltimore lost 3-2 in 12 innings.
“Getting to play in the postseason is something that you do not take for granted,” said Flaherty. “A lot of guys play their entire careers and never play in the playoffs. And to do that in my rookie year, to win the Wild Card Game, was special though we lost in five games to the Yankees. I’ll never forget that experience.”
In Flaherty’s rookie year he started games at second base, third base, left field and right field. He also has played shortstop and first base in successive years. For the season, Flaherty appeared in 77 games, batted .216 (33 for-153), with six home runs and 19 RBIs. He has settled into the role of a utility man with Baltimore.
“That has been the role that has evolved for me in three years,” said Flaherty. “I am a spot starter when somebody gets hurts. It is funny. I go back to my first year at Vanderbilt when I started at shortstop. If I had not been able to play first base where there was an opportunity I might not have made it back to the starting lineup. I sort of became a utility guy there. And six years later it gets me a job with the Orioles.”
For the second straight year, Flaherty made the Orioles opening day roster in 2013. He spent time in Baltimore and their minor league clubs. Baltimore did not make the playoffs while Flaherty appeared in 85 games, clubbed 10 home runs with 27 RBIs and a .224 batting average (55-for-256).
Playing in the major leagues gives Flaherty the opportunity to play against former Vanderbilt players and teammates.
“That is one of the greatest things to watch about Vanderbilt,” said Flaherty. “Not only do they have success and won the College World Series, but look at the number of players they produce in professional baseball. It is a special bond. Coach Corbin has done a great job connecting with his former players from any era. To be able to play against those guys at a major league level is one of the more exciting things about playing in the major leagues.”
In 2014, the Orioles won the American League Eastern Division and swept Detroit in three games in the Divisional Series. Flaherty played in all three games going 2-for-9 with one RBI. One of those hits came in Game Three off David Price.
“David texted me before the game and said he wasn’t going to let me get a hit,” laughed Flaherty. “It was fun to play against him. In the playoffs it is a little more intense. He got me out in my first two at-bats. I told myself there was no way I was going to let him get me three times. I did get a hit and he stared at me from the mound and smiled. It was like being back at a Vanderbilt intrasquad game.”
Kansas City swept the O’s in four games to win the American League pennant. Flaherty played in all four games batting going 4-for-12 with one home run, three RBIs including three walks.
On the year, Flaherty batted .221 (62-for-281) in 102 games with seven home runs and 32 RBIs. In January 2015, Flaherty signed a one-year deal keeping him with Baltimore through the 2015 season. Flaherty was on the Orioles 2015 opening day roster where he socked a solo home run in Baltimore’s first game, a 6-2 victory at Tampa Bay.
Flaherty said that playing in the postseason is his biggest thrill in the majors since, “That is what you play for when you start the year.” Prior to the 2015 season, Flaherty had collected 23 regular season home runs with his first one always memorable along with the postseason dingers. His favorite ballpark is Camden Yards, the home of his Orioles, with Fenway a close second.
Said Edward Flaherty about his son, “One of my biggest things was getting him involved with Vanderbilt and Tim Corbin. I knew Tim and was aware of where his program was headed. Tim cares about the kids and showed Ryan the right way to mature as a young college kid. I know that college kids need to mature.
“I think I helped him that way. The truth is after high school I let him go with Tim. I just watched as a spectator. I believe a lot of dad’s can take the wrong track by putting too much pressure on and being the coach. No matter whom Ryan played for, he never said one bad word about any coach he ever had.”
Traughber’s Tidbit: Regan Flaherty, Ryan’s younger brother, played for Vanderbilt (2010) one season, but transferred to Seminole State College in Oklahoma. As a Commodore he appeared in 16 games (four starts), batted .286 with 17 RBIs. Regan was rated as one of the Top 150 junior college players. He joined the Western Kentucky baseball team for two years where he became one of the Toppers’ top offensive threats. Seattle selected him in the 28th round in the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft after high school.
If you have any comments or suggestions contact Bill Traughber via email WLTraughber@aol.com.
