Jake Arrieta 2.0 Dominant in ‘Off’ Start

Well, technically, it’s Jake Arrieta 1.99.

After a start in which he struggled a bit early, Jake Arrieta finished with just a single earned run allowed, bringing his season ERA below 2 and pushing his win total to 19. Just when you think this amazing run has got to end, Arrieta goes out and does it again.

He continues to reset hit career marks with each pitch, having now logged 199 innings and 204 strikeouts. And what’s more, he’s only walked 44 batters after handing out 41 free passes in each of the last two seasons over only 75.1 and 156.2 innings, respectively.

I’ve waxed rhapsodic about this guy on numerous occasions, so I’ll save you the melodrama this time around. But we’re seeing Arrieta ascend the summit of major league pitching and it’s pretty amazing. Even on an afternoon on which he didn’t appear to really have his best stuff, he was able to dominate his opponent. Yeah, it was the Phillies, but still.

Check out the video below, in which MLB Network’s StatCast break’s down the Cubs ace’s awesomeness.