Wrapping Up Jake Arrieta

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The Orioles have shut down Jake Arrieta for the rest of the season as a precautionary measure for a bone spur. Now that his season's over let's take a closer look at it.

               IP    K   BB   HR   ERA   FIP   BB/9  K/9  K/BB
Arrieta '10  100.1  52   48    9  4.66  4.78   4.66 4.31  1.08

The big problem for Arrieta here is the high number of walks, which until recently, outnumbered the strikeouts. His control is an issue and always has been. (He walked 4.19 per 9 in Norfolk too...) His rate of walks for Baltimore would put him dead last in baseball if it qualified and pitchers don't survive that kind of wildness. That will have to improve if he is to have long term success.

However, putting up an ERA near league average is pretty good and the FIP supports that. He only gave up 9 homers for a .81 HR/9 which is a very good sign. And I think his stuff is such that he can get that K/9 rate up over 7, at least.

And in September, a funny thing happened. Arrieta started throwing strikes.

                 IP    K    BB    HR    ERA    FIP    BB/9    K/9    K/BB
Arrieta Sept.   17.1  13     2     1   2.60   2.86   1.04    6.75    6.50

It was only three starts and it would have been nice to see Arrieta make a couple more starts. (Although, Arrieta was up over 174 innings pitched this season; it's likely he would have been shut down, bone spur or not.) But that's a nice little blip that gives you some hope that Jake is capable of overcoming his wildness and that his stuff can play at the highest level. And if he can do that, he will be a big part of the short and long term success of the Baltimore Orioles.