Cubs' Ace Jake Arrieta is Quietly Having Cy Young Caliber Season

by Julian Spivey
Jake Arrieta may not be a household name to your average baseball fan, but he’s been one of the two to five best pitchers in Major League Baseball this season and is a serious contender for National League Cy Young Award winner.

If you didn’t know Arrieta before you certainly should now after his masterful no-hitter against the N.L. West Division leading Los Angeles Dodgers, who’ve ridiculously now been no-hit twice in the last 10 days, on Sunday night (August 30).

Arrieta struck out 12 Dodgers hitters and only walked one batter during the 14th no-hitter in the long history of the Chicago Cubs and the sixth no-no during the 2015 MLB season.

The interesting thing about Arrieta is he leads the National League with 17 wins this season and is in the top five in nearly every important pitching statistical category: second in ERA (2.11), fourth in WHIP (0.93) and fourth in strikeouts (190) and yet few people outside of Chicago and baseball experts seem to be talking about him. The names Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Jacob deGrom (because he plays in the Big Apple) get thrown around and rightfully so, because each of those guys are having Cy Young type seasons – but Arrieta is right there with them and frankly better than a couple of them.

Greinke leads Major League Baseball this season with an incredible 1.61 ERA and has a record of 14-3 for an 82 percent winning percentage (which leads the majors). If I had a Cy Young Award vote it would go to Greinke and he has to be considered the frontrunner for the National League award. But, everybody has been talking all season long about Greinke’s brilliance on the mound. Until Arrieta’s no-hitter on Sunday night few were doing the same with him despite him having comparable numbers to Greinke and better numbers than Kershaw, deGrom and the Pittsburgh Pirates ace Gerrit Cole.

In fact, a friend and I were just having this conversation on Saturday night on the eve of Arrieta’s no-hitter. My friend was touting Arrieta’s season and I was the one claiming he might not have the name recognition to be receiving Cy Young votes come season’s end – I hope I’m wrong and after his no-no on Sunday I should be.

The most interesting thing about Arrieta and a good reason why he’s probably not as well-known as he should be, despite his terrific season, is how he came to be the Cubs’ best pitcher and one of the best in the N.L.

Arrieta was a highly touted prospect a few years ago for the Baltimore Orioles, but in 69 games for the team from 2010-2013 he was five games under .500 for them and had an atrocious ERA of around 5.50. That just won’t cut it in the big leagues and when his ERA was over 7 in 2013 the Orioles needing pitching for a potential playoff run gave up on Arrieta and shipped him to the Cubs for pending free agent pitcher Scott Feldman.

It’s a deal that’s made a world of difference for the Cubs, who find themselves likely playoff bound this season for the first time in years, and the Orioles must be kicking themselves now that Arrieta has reached his potential.

Since his trade to the Cubs, Arrieta has gone 30-13 with a 2.54 ERA. Few pitchers in the National League have numbers comparable to that over the last two-plus seasons. The Cubs got a steal of a deal and it’s time people outside of the Chicago area found out about it.

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