Why Arrieta no longer needs to ‘blow out’ hitters for success originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Willson Contreras can see the difference in Jake Arrieta now compared to the right-hander’s first tenure with the Cubs.
“It looks different because when I caught him in 2016, he threw 97 [mph],” Contreras said Thursday. “He blew people [away]. That was super nasty.”
Arrieta’s fastball sat in the upper-90s during his first stint on the North Side. Along with his sharp breaking pitches, he blew hitters away with high velocity, even getting swings and misses within the strike zone.
As Arrieta pointed out earlier this spring, those days are gone. He’s no longer the guy with the 97-98 mph heat in his back pocket.
“And that’s completely fine,” Arrieta said on Feb. 20. “That’s just kind of the natural progression of your career.”
It’s that recognition from Arrieta that could lead to a successful season in his return to Chicago. Take Thursday’s game against Cleveland for example.
In his third outing of spring training, Arrieta pitched four innings of one-run ball. He surrendered four hits, walking none while striking out five. The first of those strikeouts came on a sharp curveball against Cleveland first baseman Bobby Bradley.
That curveball is a pitch Arrieta says is a “real important weapon for me.”
“Everybody at this level can hit the fastball,” Arrieta said. “Being able to mix in breaking balls in hitter’s counts, and especially early in counts, is going to be a big addition for me, something that I didn’t do very well the last couple seasons.”
But besides mixing in the breaking stuff, a big key for Arrieta will be executing pitches as he works with less velocity than the past. It’s part of the difference Contreras sees in the current iteration of the former Cy Young Award winner.
“What I’m seeing from him is that he’s trying to be a pitcher, trying to hit locations,” Contreras said. “He’s trying to execute pitches, more than trying to blow out the batter.
“That’s a good sign for me and for the team because whenever he’s going to be able to hit the spot and execute pitches, he’s going to get a lot of ground balls.”
Arrieta got six outs on grounders Thursday, including a double play in the fourth inning.
“It’s going to help us win a lot of games,” Contreras added.
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