Comments on: 2010 Prospect Preview: Jake Arrieta

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:06:43 +0000

@Jordan – True, his overall numbers aren’t awful, but they are down across the board substantially from AA, which either meant that the competition caught up to his level, or he was “working on stuff”, or he was just struggling in general. To wit:

K/BB: 3.04 then 2.36

ERA: 2.59 then 3.93

FIP: 3.08 then 4.15

WHIP: 1.15 then 1.42

HR/9: 0.61 then 0.88 (this despite moving to a ballpark that gets an overwhelming majority of the blame for Brandon Snyder’s struggles).

The dude struggled while Tillman and Matusz both completely dominated all levels of the minors and were promoted. It’s easy to sort of get lost in the shuffle and excitement. But I do believe that Arrieta is completely possible of being The Man in the IL and getting up to Baltimore. It’s just a matter of him going off and doing it and not trying to overdo it, which is what I’ll blame his poor Spring numbers on. That’s what he said was happening and he would probably know best.

A pitcher like Arrieta really can’t survive if he’s overthrowing because his control will bottom out in a hurry, causing him to press more and before you know it it’s 10-2 in the third inning with runners on and nobody out and Mark Hendrickson coming in.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:12:27 +0000

I am also a little shocked that Arrieta isn’t receiving that much attention. He really didn’t struggle at Norfolk, his K rate was around 7.7 (I think) and like you said, his walk rate was lower. His performance at Norfolk wasn’t on par with Bowie, but I wouldn’t call it struggling.

By: dan the man

dan the man — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:43:27 +0000

It’s pretty incredible how much D-Cab fell off. I mean, he doesn’t throw heat anymore. Low 90s, if that. And if he’s not injured, what exactly happened? Did his arm just give up on him? No one has been able to really explain it, and he only says stuff like, “I’m trying to gain more control and pitch to contact.” Sure. I think he did steroids, but that’s just my opinion and of course that’s just wild speculation on my part.

By: Miles

Miles — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 21:06:55 +0000

We certainly did DCab no favors, but I’m not sure anything would have saved DCab from his fate as a AAAA fringe starter (and that might be giving him too much credit… an Atlantic Leaguer?)

It’s encouraging that we don’t have to rush guys like Arrietta into on-the-job training. God willing, it’ll pay dividends in the near and distant future.

Less than a month to the home opener!!!

By: dan the man

dan the man — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:27:18 +0000

Crap, that should say, “They aren’t pulling a D-Cab on him…”