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Former O’s Turning In Stellar Years on the Hill

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With every strikeout, shutout inning, and no-no through however many innings Jake Arrieta throws for the Chicago Cubs, a piece of every Orioles fan dies inside.

The once former troubled Orioles pitching prospect, who had all the makings to be a front-of-line starter but couldn’t seem to piece it all together in Baltimore, has been absolutely dazzling in the Windy City.

Since his call up on May 3, Jake Arrieta has pitched to a 5-1 record with a 1.78 ERA (2.05 FIP), 1.019 WHIP, and an unbelievable 10.1 K/9. Arrieta has also pulled a 180 when it comes to his control, walking batters at a 2.42 BB/9 rate. His ERA would top the Majors if he qualified for innings pitched, and Jake’s K/9 would rank him in the top 5 with the likes of Yu Darvish, Stephen Strasburg, Max Scherzer, and David Price.

Where was this in Baltimore, Jake!?

Along with his stellar ERA and K/9, Arrieta has also done an excellent job keeping the ball in the ballpark. In his 12 starts of the 2014 season, Jake has only surrendered two home runs for a 0.25 HR/9 – the MLB average is 0.89 HR/9. That’s a giant improvement over his 2011 and 2012 seasons with the O’s, where he was surrendering 1.58 HR/9 (2011) and 1.26 HR/9 (2012), both significantly above the league averages.

Although, it was not the long ball that killed Arrieta as an Oriole; it was his mid-start meltdowns that left everyone scratching their heads wondering what in the world happened to the guy who was just pitching so well.

Start after start, Jake would show flashes of brilliance and then all of the sudden completely lose command of all of his pitches. His BB/9 ratio was absolutely atrocious in his time with the O’s – 4.31 (2010); 4.45 (2011); 2.75 (2012); 4.90 (2013). The frustration and confusion was clear on Arrieta’s face as even he could not figure out what was going wrong.

At one point there were even rumors that Jake had sought out the help of a sports psychologist to try to figure out what was causing his catastrophic meltdowns on the mound.

Jake was a head case. He had electric stuff, but couldn’t keep it together on the hill. Everyone tried to figure out a solution for Arrieta’s mental lapses, but the only solution was the one thing all Orioles fans feared it would be – a change of scenery.

Something about Wrigley has awoken the pitcher that scouts, managers, and Baltimore all thought he would be, and while it stinks that it had to happen somewhere other than for the Orioles, good for Jake!

Jake Arrieta isn’t the only ex-Oriole turned Cub who is having a stellar year. Jason Hammel – who was just recently traded to the A’s in a blockbuster trade – was having an even better year for the Cubs than his time with the Buckle Up Birds.

Hammel signed with the Cubs on a one-year deal for $6 million after not being re-signed by the Orioles, and is now in the middle of a career year. Jason is having such a great year that he was packaged with top trade target Jeff Samardzija in a trade for Oakland A’s top prospect Addison Russell.

In his time in Chi-Town, Hammel pitched to a 8-5 record with a 2.98 ERA (3.17 FIP), 1.021 WHIP, and an 8.6 K/9. Comparably, in 2012 with the O’s Hammel went 8-6 with 3.43 ERA (3.29 FIP), 1.237 WHIP, and an 8.6 K/9. Similar stat lines except for in 2014 Jason has seen a spike in his GB% from his career high 53.2% in 2012, but now that he is pitching in the Coliseum it won’t be much to worry about.

Although, it was Hammel’s inability to reproduce the same numbers he put up in his first season with the O’s in 2013, and his elbow issues throughout the year that lead to the Orioles letting him walk.

No one knew Hammel was going to rebound the way he has, and there is no way of knowing with his decreased GB% if he’d have the same success in Camden Yards had the O’s re-signed him, but I’m sure DD and Buck are kicking themselves a little for letting Hammel-time walk for what looks like a bargain now.

It’s also worth noting that the Cubs have also taken in Orioles castoff Tsuyoshi Wada after the O’s declined his $5 million dollar option last November. The Orioles had signed the Japanese lefty to a two-year $8.15 million dollar contract, but Wada failed to ever throw a pitch at the Major League level after undergoing reconstructive elbow surgery.

The Cubs signed Wada to a minor league deal where he went on to show why the Orioles took the risk to bring the lefty to the U.S. In 16 starts this season for the Iowa Cubs, Wada went 9-5 with a 2.66 ERA (3.67 FIP), 1.161 WHIP, and 9.3 K/9. His strong showing at the AAA level earned him a call up to the Majors on Tuesday to face the red hot Cincinnati Reds.

In his first career Major League start, Wada went 5 innings while surrendering 5 hits, 1 run (0 ER), 1 BB, and 3 K. The Cubs manager was impressed with Wada’s start, but it is unclear of whether he will remain in the rotation as he was only called up to spot start as the 26th man in a doubleheader.

Maybe it is something in the water in Chicago? Michael Jordan’s Special Stuff? Whatever it is it seems like every Oriole that ends up in Chicago ends up turning in a career year, and its tough to watch the guys you hoped so much for to succeed, find success elsewhere.

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