Frogs In The Pros: Arrieta Announces His Retirement

Pitching ace Jake Arrieta announced last week that he was retiring from baseball. The decision was not shocking, and after the 2021 season, it was assumed retirement was imminent. The league, and his body, basically told him a couple of years ago it was time, but now it becomes official.

The former TCU Horned Frog spent 15 seasons in professional baseball, all but the first three in the big league. In 2015-16, he had one of the hottest stretches as a pitcher as a member of the Chicago Cubs. He won the 2015 National League Cy Young Award, and in 2016, he led the Cubs to a World Series title, ending a 108-year drought.

Cubs statement on Jake Arrieta's retirement: pic.twitter.com/lsButzyNDP
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 19, 2022

Before he got to “fly the W” in Chicago and before the Baltimore Orioles drafted him in 2007, he spent two seasons on the mound at Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth.

After playing his freshman year at Weatherford College, Arrieta found his way to TCU. In his sophomore season (2006), he finished tied for the national lead in wins (14), led the team with a 2.35 ERA in 19 appearances, started 17 games, finished with a record of 14-4, had 111 strikeouts in 111 innings pitched, and held opponents to a .231 batting average. In his junior year (2007), he had a 9-3 record with 17 starts, a 3.01 ERA in a team-high 98 2/3 innings pitched, and a team-high 93 strikeouts. In both seasons, TCU played in an NCAA Regional, with Arrieta facing a Big 12 team each year – with a win over No. 1 seed Oklahoma in 2006 and No. 3 seed Baylor in 2007.

Arrieta’s honors while at TCU

2006 First-team All-Mountain West
2006 Co-Mountain West Pitcher of the Year
2006 NCBWA second-team All-American
2006 Baseball America second-team All-American
2007 Rodger Clemens Award Watch List
2007 First-team All-Mountain West

In the 2017 MLB Draft, the Baltimore Orioles selected Arrieta in the fifth round, 159th overall. His signing bonus of $1.1 million was, at the time, ten times higher than recommended for a fifth-round pick.

He began his professional career at the Phoenix Desert Dogs, part of the Arizona Fall League. He pitched 16 scoreless innings and had a WHIP of below 1.00. With his help, the team won the AFL championship in 2007. He spent 2008, 2009, and the beginning of the 2010 season in the Orioles’ minor league teams. In 2008, while with the Class A Frederick Keys of the Carolina League, he made 20 starts, had a league-high 2.87 ERA, and 120 strikeouts. He was named Carolina League Player of the Year. In 2009, he started with the Double-A Bowie Baysox and had 11 starts before moving up to the Triple-A Norfolk Tides.

On June 10, 2010, he made his MLB debut against the New York Yankees. Baltimore won the game 4-3. Arrieta pitched six innings, allowed three runs, and struck out six in his debut. Coincidentally, his MLB debut came one day before TCU’s first-ever Super Regional win, a 3-1 win over Texas in Austin, leading the Frogs to their first College World Series appearance.

Arrieta remained with Baltimore into the 2013 season. On July 2, 2013, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs. And it was this stint in Chicago that created the legend that was Jake Arrieta. In the 2015 and 2016 seasons, for what was just about a calendar year, Arrieta may have been the best pitcher in the MLB at the time. On June 21, 2015, it started with a game against the Minnesota Twins. He threw a shutout, and it was the best start of his career so far. In a 31-start stretch that continued to May 31, 2016, he had a record of 25-1, an ERA of 1.09, and a WHIP of .766. He threw five complete games and four shutouts. Two of those shutouts were no-hitters.

Those were just the regular-season games during that stretch. In the 2015 NL Wild Card, he threw a complete-game shutout against a 98-win Pittsburgh Pirates team. He won the 2015 National League Cy Young Award. In the 2016 NLDS, he hit a home run off San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner, making it the first time a pitcher got a home run off Bumgarner. He won Game 2 and Game 6 of the 2016 World Series. The Cubs went on to win Game 7, 8-7, in 10 innings to win their first World Series title in 108 years. In nine career starts in October (postseason) with the Cubs, Arrieta posted a 3.08 ERA.

After the 2017 season, he became a free agent for the first time in his career. He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he stayed for three seasons. In 2021, he returned to the Cubs as their No. 2 starter. He was plagued by injuries and ended up being cut by the Cubs in August. He was picked up by the San Diego Padres, where he had four starts. He had a 10.95 ERA and allowed 15 earned runs. The Padres released him before the end of the season.

Jake Arrieta's Career Stat Line

Career Stats	Regular Season	Post Season
Wins	115	5
Losses	93	3
ERA	3.98	3.08
Games	285	9
Games Started	279	9
Saves	0	0
Innings Pitched	1,612.1	52.2
Strikeouts	1,433	66
WHIP	1.25	1.08

It's been a long ride for the RHP from Plano nicknamed “Snake.” He made Frogs fans proud back in his Mountain West days. And all Frogs fans, if even just for a brief moment, became Cubs fans after his performance in the World Series. Good luck with the next chapter in your life, Jake.

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