Mason Fluharty (why do I always want to spell his name with a d in the t spot?) was a fifth round draft pick, in the 2022 draft, by the Blue Jays. There are only five players picked in that round who have made it to the majors, so far. He made it onto our […]
Mason Fluharty (why do I always want to spell his name with a d in the t spot?) was a fifth round draft pick, in the 2022 draft, by the Blue Jays. There are only five players picked in that round who have made it to the majors, so far.
He made it onto our top 40 prospect list in 2023, in the 40th spot. Matt wrote:
Fluharty was selected in the 5th round of this summer’s draft as a junior out of Liberty, signing for a below slot $222,500 ($250K with the roster bonus allowed in the uniform minor league contract). After barely getting his feet wet in 2020 and an unremarkable 2021, he emerged to post a 2.84 ERA with 83 strikeouts against just 10 walks in 50.2 innings out of the flames bullpen to put himself himself on the draft radar.
Listed at 6’2” and 215 pounds, the lefty has an extreme cross-fire delivery from a low arm slot that hides the ball and makes it tough to pick up, especially for lefties. A reliever profile all the way, Fluharty doesn’t have huge raw stuff with a bat-breaking low-90s cutter and sweeping breaking ball. Profile wise, there’s a lot of similarities to Brandon Eisert, just tracking about 18 months later.
Expected to move quickly, Fluharty was assigned aggressively directly to high-A Vancouver, and was equal to the challenge. In 11 games and 16.1 innings, he posted a 3.91 ERA and 23 strikeouts. He probably returns there to start 2023, though New Hampshire isn’t out of the question and he should spend most of the summer there in any event. The major league profile is likewise similar to Eisert below, albeit with somewhat lower probability with lesser proximity to the majors.
Mason was called up to the Jays on March 30th (when Max Scherzer was placed on the IL). He was optioned to Buffalo on July 2nd (when Yimi Garcia came off the IL) and then was back again on July 21st (when Robinson Piña was optioned to Buffalo). And he was optioned out again on August 24th (Paxton Schultz was called up).He came up one more time, on September 20th (Chris Bassitt went on the IL). Such is the life of a reliever with options. And he has two option years left.
How did he do when he was with the Jays?
| Age | WAR | W | L | ERA | G | GS | GF | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | BK | WP | ERA+ | FIP | SO9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 0.1 | 5 | 2 | 4.44 | 55 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 52.2 | 36 | 28 | 26 | 6 | 24 | 4 | 56 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 96 | 3.97 | 9.6 |
Baseball Reference has him at a 0.1 WAR. FanGraphs 0.2, giving him a value of $1.5 million to the Jays.
He had a 3.97 FIP and a 4.13 xFIP, both better than his ERA.
Mason had a .236 BABIP. 63.4% of his baserunners were stranded.
His strikeout rate was 26.0%, and his walk rate was 11.2%.
Fluharty’s line drive rate was 16.0%. Ground ball rate 41.2%. Fly ball 42.7%. 10.7% of his fly balls left the park.
His soft contact was 15.8%. Hard contact 31.6%.
Fluharty was only slightly better vs LHB (.182/.277/.330) than RHB (.202/.301/.333).
He was much better at home (3.34 ERA, batters hit .143/.236/.316) than on the road (5.87, batters hit .247/.346/.348).
He was better in the second half (2.41, .131/.243/.262 in 34 innings) than the first half (5.56, .222/.313/.365 in 18.2 innings).
Fluharty by month:
- April: 1-0, 2.53 ERA, in 11 games. In 10.2 innings, batters hit .121/.250/.492.
- May: 2-1, 4.38 ERA, in 13 games. In 12.1 innings, batters hit .178/.229/.244.
- June: 0-1, 9.82 ERA, in 13 games. In 11 innings, batters hit .333/.429/.563.
- July: 1-0, 0.00 ERA, in 4 games. In 5.1 innings, batters hit .176/.176/.235.
- August: 0-0, 5.63 ERA, in 10 games. In 8 innings, batters hit .179/.361/.429.
- September: 1-0, 0.00 ERA, in 4 games. In 5.1 innings, batters hit .000/.059/.000
The Jays were 28-27 in games he pitched.
By Catcher:
- Tyler Heineman: 5.40 ERA, .255/.340/.553 in 53 PA.
- Alejandro Kirk: 3.29 ERA, .152/.257/.235 in 153 PA.
- Ali Sanchez: 36.00 ERA, .500/.556/.625 in 9 PA.
In High Leverage, batters hit .208/.355/.292 in 32 PA. Low Leverage .223/.309/.364 in 136 PA. He wasn’t used in high-leverage spots much.
Days of rest:
- 0: 6.35 ERA, batters hit .250/.357/.292 in 28 PA.
- 1: 4.58 ERA, batters hit .225/.329/.366 in 83 PA.
- 2: 7.11 ERA, batters hit .261/.352/.565 in 54 PA.
- 3: 1.74 ERA, batters hit .032/.091/.032 in 33 PA.
- 4: 0.00 ERA, batters hit .000/.333/.000 in 3 PA.
- 6+: 0.00 ERA, batters hit .077/.143/.154 in 14 PA.
In the Playoffs:
| Lg | W | L | ERA | G | GS | GF | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | SO | WP | BF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| AL | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| WS | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 11 |
As well as the save, he had 6 holds and 2 blown saves.
He pitched 2 innings 4 times and more than 1 inning 15 times.
Mason is a two-pitch pitcher, throwing a Cutter (58.2% of the time, 90.2 mph) and a Sweeper (41.7%, 91.6%). Batters had a .282 slugging average against the Cutter and .403 slugging average against the Sweeper.
He was at the 95th percentile in hard-hit ball, 75th percentile in Whiff, but just 10th percentile walk percentage.
I thought Mason had a very nice rookie season. He was, for much of the season, the second lefty in the pen (sometimes the number one guy). And he could be again next year, or he could be the number one lefty. But, since he has options, odds are he’ll be up and down a bit.
Category: General Sports
