The VandySports 100: No. 24, Ryan Flaherty

Ryan Flaherty starred at shortstop on Vanderbilt's fondly-remembered 2007 baseball team. He's No. 24 in our countdown of 100-greatest Commodores we've covered, which spans from 2003 to present.

Honors and awards: 2006 honorable-mention Freshman All-American (Collegiate Baseball)

2006 Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week (May 22)

2006 All-SEC Tournament

2007 second-team All-American (ACBA, Rivals)

2007 second-team All-Southeastern Conference

2007 All-SEC Tournament

2007 All-Nashville Regional

2008 second-team All-SEC

2008 All-SEC Tournament

In the VU record book: Single-season hits: tied-fourth (104 in 2007)

Single-season doubles: tied-eighth (23 in 2007)

Career hits: tied-sixth (264)

Career doubles: tied-10th (52)

Career RBIs: sixth (169)

Before VU: Was Maine's Gatorade High School Player of the Year as a senior at Deering High, and also earned the state's Mr. Baseball honor. Led the school to the state title in 2002 and 2003. Ranked the 152nd-best player in his class by Perfect Game, and the 141st-best pro prospect by Baseball America. Was a 2005 ABCA Preseason All-American. Won the Telegram League batting title in 2004. Led Nova to the 2004 American Legion World Series championship and was named Legion Tournament MVP the year before. Lettered in baseball, football and basketball, and was captain of the football team as a senior.

Freshman (2006): Played 62 games, starting 61, for a 37-27 (16-14 SEC) team that finished runner-up at the Atlanta Regional. Fielded .969 with 13 errors, with 19 starts coming at short and 39 at first. but mostly at first base, where he made 39 starts. Started all 30 SEC regular-season games, hitting .330/.435/.413 in those, with a homer, 24 RBIs and 18 runs. Led the team in batting average and ranked second with 19 doubles. Led VU team with 22 multi-hit and 15 multi-RBI games. Made the All-SEC Tournament team after hitting .348 with three doubles, four runs and seven RBIs as VU finished runner-up in that event. Named SEC Freshman of the Week after going 6-for-13 (.462) with four RBI and three runs scored in the regular season final series against South Carolina. Went 3-for-5 with two RBI in second game of doubleheader against Tennessee. Was 3-for-5 with a RBI against Middle Tennessee. Went 4-for-4 with four runs scored against Lipscomb. Was 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs vs. Brown, and 3-for-3 in another game with Brown with three runs scored and two RBI. Named the 30th-best prospect in the Cape Cod League by Baseball America after hitting .250 with six doubles, two triples and 18 RBI in 38 games for Hyannis.

Sophomore (2007): Started all 67 games for a 54-13 (22-8) team that won the SEC and the SEC Tournament, ended the regular season ranked No. 1 nationally and finished second in the Nashville Regional. Was the every-day shortstop, fielding .969 with eight errors while participating in 32 double plays. Hit .339/.390/.452, with a homer, 22 RBIs and 27 runs scored, in SEC regular-season games.Finished the year with a school single season record 35-game hitting streak. Led VU with 33 multi-hit and 20 multi RBI games. Went 13-for-24 (.542) with four RBI and five runs scored in the NCAA Nashville Regional. Was 5-for-5 with a double, homer and three RBI against Austin Peay in the tourney opener. Went 11-for-29 (.379) with five doubles and nine RBI in six games at the SEC tournament, earning All-Tournament honors. Was 5-for-9 (.556) in the LSU series with two RBI and four runs scored. Batted 5-for-12 (.417) with a double, triple and RBI in the Auburn series. Went 7-for-14 (.500) with two doubles and two RBI in the Georgia series Had two hits, two steals, a homer and three RBIs vs. Florida and was 3-for-5 with two RBIs vs. the Gators the day before. Went 4-for-11 (.364) with a double in the Tennessee series. Was 6-for-14 (.428) with five RBI and four runs scored in the Kentucky series. Hit walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth against Boston College. Went 3-for-4 with a homer, double and two RBI against Lipscomb Was 5-for-13 (.385) with five RBI in Ohio series. Had three hits with a triple and a RBI against Baylor in the opening weekend. Started predominantly at second base for the USA National Team over the summer on the team that won a silver medal at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. Batted .270 with two homers, seven doubles and 14 RBI in 34 games (30 starts).

Junior (2008): Started all 63 games for a 41-22 (15-14) squad that finished third at the Tempe Regional. Fielded .948 as the team's every-day shortstop, making 14 errors while taking part in 33 double plays. Hit .328/.417/.622 with nine homers and 30 RBIs in SEC regular-season play. Led the team in homers and RBIs in all games. Hit safely in the season's first three games, extending his hitting streak to a school-record 38 games. Hit a game-tying homer in the ninth in the SEC opener vs. South Carolina, then, won the game with a single in the 13th.

Post-VU: The Cubs took Flaherty in the supplemental first round (41st overall) in the 2008 MLB Draft. Flaherty was a career reserve, spending at least part of every season in the Majors since 2012 before retiring after a partial season with Cleveland in 2019. Flaherty, son of Southern Maine baseball coach Ed Flaherty, has begun a coaching career in the Padres organization.

Final thoughts, and why I ranked him where I did: Flaherty's offensive numbers suffer a little bit in translation since he played in an offensive-friendly era, but a career .937 OPS as a three-year starter is still good in any era--and especially when you're a shortstop. Flaherty may not have been the finest VU defensive shortstop--certainly, Connor Kaiser, Vince Conde and Dansby Swanson were better--but he was a good one and smooth at turning double plays.

Then, there were the intangibles. Flaherty stayed healthy and almost never missed games. He was a pleasant personality and a leader. He also had a huge role in establishing a winning culture. He was part of the first VU freshman class to go to an NCAA Tournament each year, and helped put the team on the map in 2007 while starring on a team ranked No. 1 in the country almost the entire season.

It's possible I over-rated Flaherty a bit. Twelve hitters behind him in our top-100 countdown were better producers on a per-plate-appearance basis once adjusted for run-scoring environment. He's significantly behind the other six hitters to come in the countdown in that regard, too. But I think if you consider the defense and the intangibles and what he meant to the program, there's a reasonable justification to put him here.