Jake Arrieta
Jacob Joseph Arrieta is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and San Diego Padres.
Arrieta played college baseball at Weatherford Junior College and at Texas Christian University. He was an All-American and was named Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year at TCU. The Orioles selected Arrieta in the fifth round of the 2007 MLB draft, and he signed a then record contract for a fifth round draft pick. He pitched for the United States national baseball team at the 2008 Summer Olympics, winning the bronze medal.
Arrieta made his big league debut for the Orioles in 2010, and after four seasons he was traded to the Cubs in 2013. In 2015, he led MLB in wins with 22, pitched a no-hitter, and won the 2015 National League Cy Young Award. In 2016, he was an NL All Star, threw his second no-hitter, received a Silver Slugger Award, and won a World Series with the Cubs.
Prior to the start of the 2018 season, Arrieta signed a three-year, $75 million contract with the Phillies. In August 2019, it was announced that he would have season-ending surgery to remove a bone spur in his pitching elbow. He returned to the starting rotation with the Phillies for the shortened 2020 season. In 2021, he returned to the Cubs, but was released partway through the season before signing with the San Diego Padres. Arrieta announced his retirement from professional baseball after the 2021 season.
Early life
Arrieta was born in Farmington, Missouri, to Lou and Lynda Arrieta. They moved to Texas four months after Arrieta was born, and he grew up in Plano, Texas, where he attended Plano East Senior High School. He was 6–1 with a 1.61 ERA as a junior, and 5–4 with a 1.30 ERA as a senior. As a high school senior he was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 31st round of the 2004 draft, but instead he chose to attend college.College career
Arrieta attended Weatherford Junior College for his freshman year in 2005, posting a 6–2 win–loss record with a 3.43 ERA. Following his freshman year, he was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 26th round of the 2005 Major League Baseball draft.Instead, he opted to transfer to Texas Christian University, where he played for the TCU Horned Frogs baseball team for his sophomore and junior seasons, and studied sport psychology. During the summer of 2005, prior to enrolling at TCU, Arrieta participated in summer collegiate baseball with the McKinney Marshalls of the Texas Collegiate League, and posted a 4–3 record in 10 starts with a 1.87 ERA over innings pitched. During his sophomore year in 2006, he led college baseball with 14 wins and had a 2.35 ERA over 19 appearances, and he had 111 strikeouts in 111 innings. He won the Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year Award and was named a Second-Team College Baseball All-American after his sophomore year.
In 2007, his junior year, he was 9–3 with a 3.01 ERA. He was named First-team All-Mountain West in 2007.
Arrieta first joined the United States national baseball team in 2006, and helped the team win the World University Baseball Championship in Cuba. He was 4–0 with 34 strikeouts and a 0.27 ERA—allowing just one earned run in 35 innings pitched over six starts for the team. In his first start at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Arrieta pitched six innings and struck out seven in Team USA's 9–1 victory over the China national baseball team.
Professional career
Draft and minor leagues
The Baltimore Orioles selected Arrieta in the fifth round, 159th overall, of the 2007 MLB draft, and he joined the team on a signing bonus of $1.1 million, almost ten times higher than the recommended bonus for a fifth-round pick. Because he signed with the team late, he was not eligible to play for a regular-season Minor League Baseball team and made his professional debut in the Arizona Fall League, where he was named a Preseason All-Star. He made an impression there by pitching 16 scoreless innings for the Phoenix Desert Dogs, keeping his walks plus hits per innings pitched below 1.00 for the AFL championship-winning team.He opened the 2008 season with the Class A Frederick Keys of the Carolina League. Minor league pitching coach Blaine Beatty remembered Arrieta entering the season with a strong pitching repertoire, but struggling with the mental aspect of the game, particularly with maintaining his composure under duress. He made 20 starts for the Keys, going 6–5 in the process. Additionally, Arrieta served as the Keys' opening day starter, received both Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star honors, and pitched in the All-Star Futures Game. He pitched a scoreless inning at the Futures Game, allowing only one hit and striking out one. Arrieta was also the only minor league baseball player below Double-A to be named to the United States national baseball team for the 2008 Summer Olympics. He started in one game for the USA team, pitching six scoreless innings in a 9–1 group stage victory over China. Arrieta and the rest of Team USA ultimately took bronze in the Olympic tournament. Although he missed the final six weeks of the season due to the Olympics, Arrieta led the Carolina League with a 2.87 ERA, while his 120 strikeouts were fourth in the league. When he returned from Beijing, he was named the Carolina League Pitcher of the Year.
Arrieta received his first Orioles spring training invitation in 2009, although he was not expected to make his major league debut that season. During spring training, he kept a personal blog that criticized the Orioles' training facilities, as well as the physical abilities of multiple teammates. One Oriole discovered this blog and printed out excerpts that he displayed around the clubhouse; this discovery caused friction between Arrieta and the rest of the team. He opened the regular season with the Double-A Bowie Baysox, posting a 6–3 record with a 2.59 ERA in 11 starts before receiving a promotion to the Triple-A Norfolk Tides on June 12. Although he took the loss in his 2–0 club debut against the Indianapolis Indians, Arrieta pitched six solid innings for Norfolk, allowing only two hits and one solo home run. He made 17 starts for Norfolk that season, posting a 5–8 record and a 3.93 ERA while striking out 78 batters in innings.
Baltimore Orioles (2010–2013)
Arrieta received another spring training invitation in 2010, but he was assigned to the Tides on March 25, as Baltimore already had a complete starting rotation, and the club was not interested in having him start as a long reliever. Difficulties from Baltimore's starting rotation, however, forced the team to begin calling up minor league pitchers by the end of May. Arrieta was one of the top choices to replace David Hernandez on May 25, but Chris Tillman received the promotion in his stead, as Tillman was already on the 40-man roster, which made a promotion logistically simpler. Arrieta received his chance shortly afterwards, replacing a struggling Brad Bergesen for a June 10 game against A. J. Burnett and the New York Yankees. Arrieta pitched for six innings in his debut, allowing three earned runs while striking out six to earn the win in Baltimore's 4–3 victory. When Buck Showalter took over as manager for the Orioles on August 3, Arrieta and the rest of the Baltimore rotation showed immediate improvement: after going 14–45 with a combined 5.50 ERA before Showalter, the rotation improved to 15–11 with a 3.23 ERA in the month after his hiring. On September 18, the Orioles decided to shut Arrieta down for the remainder of the season, both because a bone spur in his pitching elbow had led to triceps tightness in his last start and because he had pitched a career-high innings between Norfolk and Baltimore. After going 6–2 with a 1.85 ERA in 12 minor-league games, Arrieta finished his rookie season 6–6 with a 4.66 ERA in 18 starts, having struck out 52 batters in innings. After receiving a second medical opinion, he decided against an offseason surgery to remove the spur.After securing his position in the Orioles' 2011 starting rotation, Arrieta made his season debut for the Orioles' home opener at Camden Yards on April 4. He allowed one earned run on six hits while striking out three in six innings of the Orioles' 5–1 victory over the Detroit Tigers. He began the season as one of Baltimore's best starters, leading the team with nine wins in 18 starts, but there was some concern over his health and command: his ERA was 4.90 in that same time frame, he rarely lasted beyond six innings, and he frequently walked batters. Additionally, by early July, the bone spur in his elbow had begun to bother him again. He walked at least one batter per game until July 20, when he threw a career-high 111 pitches in seven innings against the Boston Red Sox. The fibrous mass in his elbow continued to affect his command, however, to the point where he walked a career-high six batters in a game against the New York Yankees. Arrieta underwent a season-ending surgery to remove the mass on August 12, and he finished his sophomore season with a 10–8 record and 5.05 ERA in 22 starts.
When Jeremy Guthrie, who had been the Orioles' Opening Day starting pitcher the last three seasons, was traded to the Colorado Rockies, Arrieta was selected to pitch the first game of Baltimore's 2013 season. He earned the win in the Orioles' 5–2 victory over the Minnesota Twins, allowing only two hits and striking out four batters in seven innings. Arrieta was far less successful as the season progressed, going 3–9 with a 6.13 ERA in 18 starts. He briefly spent time in the bullpen in June, but on July 6, after allowing six runs in innings of a 9–7 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, Arrieta was demoted to the Triple-A Norfolk Tides. Manager Buck Showalter told reporters, "I think our guys understand that carrying around 6.00 ERAs in the American League just don't cut it". After a minor-league start in which he allowed five earned runs in innings against the Gwinnett Stripers, Arrieta acquired a sport psychologist to aid in the mental aspect of his pitching. His performance improved in kind: Arrieta had a 5.75 ERA in his first six starts for Norfolk and a 1.82 ERA in his last four. In 10 starts for Norfolk, including one complete game, Arrieta went 5–4 with a 4.02 ERA. He was promoted back to Baltimore on September 7, and he made six more major-league appearances to close out the season, all of which came in relief. In 24 appearances for Baltimore, 18 of which were starts, Arrieta went 3–9 with a 6.20 ERA, and he struck out 109 batters in innings. He dressed for the 2012 American League Division Series but was not on the active roster and did not appear in a game. The Orioles lost the series to the New York Yankees and were eliminated from the postseason.
Arrieta outpitched both Brian Matusz and Steve Johnson during spring training to win back a position in the Orioles' 2013 Opening Day starting rotation. He struggled with pitch command through his first four starts of the season, during which he went 1–1 with a 6.63 ERA, as well as 16 walks in 19 innings. On April 22, the Orioles demoted Arrieta to Triple-A and promoted right-handed reliever Alex Burnett in his stead. He spent the remainder of his time with the organization bouncing between Baltimore and Norfolk. In five starts for Baltimore across three major-league stints, Arrieta was 1–2 with a 7.23 ERA. He also made nine appearances for Norfolk, all but one of which were starts, and went 5–3 with a 4.41 ERA there.