Jake Arrieta
Arrieta's transformation from Baltimore afterthought to Chicago ace remains one of the decade's most dramatic pitching makeovers. After posting a 5.46 ERA across four forgettable seasons with the Orioles, he became virtually unhittable following his 2013 trade to the Cubs. His 2015 Cy Young campaign featured that microscopic 1.77 ERA and a no-hitter streak that captivated baseball.
The right-hander's peak was brief but spectacular. From 2014-2016, he went 56-23 with a 2.53 ERA, anchoring Chicago's World Series run. His four-seam fastball sat in the mid-90s, but the real weapon was a devastating slider that made hitters look foolish. That Silver Slugger award wasn't a fluke either — few pitchers combined his mound dominance with legitimate hitting ability.
By 2018, the magic had faded. Arrieta's final seasons in Philadelphia and San Diego were marked by declining velocity and effectiveness, a reminder of how quickly elite pitching can deteriorate.
Career · Hitting
12 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | BAL | 18 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .250 | 34 |
| 2011 | BAL | 22 | 4 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .500 | 69 |
| 2012 | BAL | 24 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .250 | 35 |
| 2013 | CHC | 14 | 15 | 0 | 2 | .133 | .267 | 37 |
| 2014 | CHC | 26 | 39 | 0 | 3 | .179 | .502 | 72 |
| 2015 | CHC | 33 | 79 | 2 | 2 | .152 | .428 | 59 |
| 2016 | CHC | 31 | 65 | 2 | 7 | .262 | .720 | 97 |
| 2017 | CHC | 32 | 61 | 1 | 5 | .131 | .358 | 48 |
| 2018 | PHI | 31 | 45 | 1 | 3 | .133 | .388 | 53 |
| 2019 | PHI | 24 | 45 | 0 | 4 | .156 | .352 | 46 |
| 2020 | PHI | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2021 | CHC | 25 | 23 | 0 | 0 | .130 | .361 | 50 |
| Career | 289 | 382 | 6 | 27 | .165 | — | — | |
Career · Pitching
12 seasons| Year | Team | G | IP | W | L | ERA | ERA+ | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | BAL | 18 | 100.3 | 6 | 6 | 4.66 | 87 | 52 | 1.535 |
| 2011 | BAL | 22 | 119.3 | 10 | 8 | 5.05 | 78 | 93 | 1.458 |
| 2012 | BAL | 24 | 114.7 | 3 | 9 | 6.20 | 65 | 109 | 1.369 |
| 2013 | CHC | 14 | 75.3 | 5 | 4 | 4.78 | 81 | 60 | 1.327 |
| 2014 | CHC | 25 | 156.7 | 10 | 5 | 2.53 | 148 | 167 | 0.989 |
| 2015 | CHC | 33 | 229.0 | 22 | 6 | 1.77 | 223 | 236 | 0.865 |
| 2016 | CHC | 31 | 197.3 | 18 | 8 | 3.10 | 135 | 190 | 1.084 |
| 2017 | CHC | 30 | 168.3 | 14 | 10 | 3.53 | 123 | 163 | 1.218 |
| 2018 | PHI | 31 | 172.7 | 10 | 11 | 3.96 | 105 | 138 | 1.286 |
| 2019 | PHI | 24 | 135.7 | 8 | 8 | 4.64 | 97 | 110 | 1.474 |
| 2020 | PHI | 9 | 44.3 | 4 | 4 | 5.08 | 87 | 32 | 1.511 |
| 2021 | CHC | 24 | 98.7 | 5 | 14 | 7.39 | 58 | 83 | 1.774 |
| Career | 285 | 1612.3 | 115 | 93 | — | — | 1433 | — | |
Each pitch type this pitcher throws regularly, placed by how the ball moves — sideways break across, rise or drop down the side. Each dotted ring holds about the middle 85% of the league’s pitches of that type, so a cluster sitting outside its ring is movement most pitchers don’t have.
The dots — a sample of this pitcher’s regular-season pitches, placed by movement: left–right is horizontal break, up–down is induced vertical break (what the pitch does beyond gravity). The view is handedness-neutral — positive break is toward the pitcher’s arm side for lefties and righties alike, so every sinker runs right and every sweeper breaks left, whoever throws it.
The dotted rings — about the middle 85% of where each pitch type lands league-wide (a 2-standard-deviation spread), measured from 7.5 million regular-season pitches since 2015. A cluster sitting well outside its ring is movement most of the league doesn’t get. Spring training and the postseason are excluded.
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.