Maine baseball fans have spent the first month of the season enjoying the performance of the Red Sox.  Despite the inevitable let down that followed the amazing 17-2 start, Red Sox fans were already getting in line for tickets to the World Series.  

Who could blame them? Their team was leading all of baseball in hitting, grand slam homers seemed to grow on trees, the starting pitching, even without Pomeranz and Wright, was as good as any in baseball and the bullpen was lights out. The Yankees, expected to be the Sox only competition, were floundering around in third and the superstar that was supposed to make them the American League East kings was hitting under .200.

Mainers are passionate about their Red Sox and 2018 has been a great ride so far. Red Sox fans panicked when their boys lost three in a row last week but every good team goes through stretches like that — it’s a 162 game season. 

Barring catastrophic injury levels, this team has the ability to go all the way. In this spot on February 11 of this year, I said, “this Red Sox team, if they stay healthy and produce to levels or close to levels at which they have shown they can, could win the Eastern Division again. If they produce at the level they have shown they can, even that young powerhouse in New York will have trouble staying with them.”

In all the excitement surrounding the Red Sox start, the only Maine native playing in the Major Leagues had quietly played a big part in the Atlanta Braves 13-10 start after a disappointing 72-90 finish last year.

Portland’s own Ryan Flaherty, after spending six years with the Baltimore Orioles, was made a free agent after the 2017 season.  He had missed a large part of 2017 as a result of a right shoulder strain that kept him on the disabled list from May 19 through August 16 and played in only 23 games, had 38 at bats and hit .211 for the year.

He was finally signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies on February 8 and went to spring training with them. In 37 at bats in the spring he had 13 hits for a .357 average, but the Phillies cut him on March 22.

Four days later, on March 26, the Braves gave him a one year, $750,000 contract — and, three days later, he started at third base batting eighth for the Braves in their season opener against the same Phillies who had let him go exactly one week earlier. He went 1-for-4 that first day and 7-for-13 for the series against the Phils, scoring five runs and getting two doubles among his seven hits as the Braves took two out of three.

According to Baseball Reference and Baseball Almanac, Flaherty is the only real “Mainer,” meaning born in Maine, on a big league roster this week. He had 21 hits in 67 at bats, for a .313 average, in his first 20 games with the Braves. He has been playing third base with regular third baseman Johan Camargo on the disabled list. 

Camargo returned to third base against the Mets on April 22 but Flaherty came off the bench in the eighth inning of that game to pinch hit, worked a walk and scored a key run as the Braves came from behind to beat the Mets 4-3. At that time, Flaherty was hitting .362. Ryan was back at third base in the next two games, against the Cincinnati Reds, but went 0-for-9 to lower his average to .313 and, on Wednesday, Camargo started at third and had two hits and two RBIs in the Braves win.

Flaherty, despite his role as a utility player, was no stranger to the pressure of Opening Day. In 2014, he batted eighth and played third base against the Red Sox in the season opener and, in 2016, he batted seventh and played shortstop on Opening Day against the Tampa Bay Rays. Still, after being released on March 22, signing with the Braves four days later and starting the season as the Braves’ third baseman three days after that, must have been a roller coaster week for the Maine native.

In his first six years in baseball, Flaherty played every position in the field, with the exception of catcher, even filling in as a pitcher on one occasion for one inning. He is an infielder by trade and experience but has played 86 games in the outfield and has also filled in as designated hitter although his career .221 batting average argues against using him there.

His biggest value to the Orioles was his ability and willingness to come off the bench and play almost any position effectively. His performance at the beginning of this season has proven what a valuable asset he can be to a team.   

He played in the postseason with the O’s in 2012 and 2014 and, although they never made the World Series, he performed well. In 11 playoff games, he has had 9 hits in 32 at bats for a .281 average, with two homers five runs batted in and five runs scored.  

In the third game of the 2012 ALDS, against the Yankees, with the series tied at one game each, he homered in the third inning off Hiroki Kuroda to put the O’s up 1-0 in a game they eventually lost 3-2. In the 2014 ALCS, in which the Orioles were swept by the Kansas City Royals, he went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored in Game 1 and led off the third inning in Game 4 with a solo homer for the Orioles only run as they lost the finale 2-1. 

No matter what happens with Ryan Flaherty in Atlanta the rest of this season, he has proven, once again, that he is a valuable weapon to have available on the bench.

I have always expected that he would end up with Joe Maddon and his Chicago Cubs because his ability to play multiple roles fits Maddon’s style so well. At 31, Maine’s only native big league player will be filling in someplace for at least a few more years.

— Carl Johnson lives in Sanford and writes a weekly baseball column for the Journal Tribune Sunday. Contact him at baseballworldbjt@yahoo.com and check out his blog at baseballworldbjt.com.