Jake Arrieta oozed potential. It came through his every pore. He was 25, talented, and part of what then-Baltimore Orioles manager Dave Tremblay referred to as his “cavalry,” a group of young pitchers who would lead the franchise back into a state of perennial postseason contention after years as an irrelevant also-ran.
Arrieta was, basically, Nick Pivetta.
That was eight years ago. And although Arrieta went on to win a Cy Young Award and eventually a World Series, it didn’t happen until after he left the Orioles. And were it not for a trade to the Chicago Cubs that freed him from the bad advice he had been getting from a pitching coach who didn’t understand him and didn’t care to, it’s unclear even to the stone-faced righthander if his career would have launched.