Cubs News: Arrieta discusses his pitching career on new TV show |
Cubs ace
Jake Arrieta will be featured this Saturday at 9 a.m. CT in "Play Ball,” MLB Network’s new weekly show geared toward kids that features one-on-one baseball demonstrations and conversations with some of the top players and personalities in the game.
MLB Network's Kevin Millar chatted with Arrieta about his pitching evolution since he was a youngster growing up in Missouri. Arrieta enjoyed first base and third base growing up but knew his future would be as a pitcher. “I knew I always wanted to be a pitcher, [because] my dad was a pitcher, my grandfather pitched, and that’s kind of the teaching that I got at an early age, was how to pitch. Which kid doesn’t want to hit also? I liked to play the hot corner, loved to play first base, and it started at a young age and as I got older I knew that I’d have to focus more on pitching as I got to high school.” Arrieta enjoyed watching some of the dominant strikeout artists growing up. “Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson. …Those guys were intimidating on the mound, they were fun to watch pitch, and you could tell that their intense demeanor kind of added something to their ability to have success. It put a certain amount of fear in the hitter’s eyes, and that’s something I respected and looked up to as a kid.” He hasn't changed much in his natural throwing motion since he was a young player. “I look back at pictures of when I was 8, 9, 10-years-old and my throwing mechanics look very similar. So I think that it’s important to understand that each kid’s going to be different mechanically and try and help them tweak things, little small adjustments that can help them be even better.” Clayton Kershaw will be one tough pitcher to overtake for Arrieta to win his second consecutive CY Young Award. “Well, first of all, I think I’ll have to find a way to continue to outpitch Clayton Kershaw and continue to do my routine the way I always have been. Try and be consistent in the strike zone, mix in some good off-speed pitches, and keep the hitters off balance.” For the season, Arrieta is 12-3 with a 2.33 ERA with 115 strikeouts and a 1.06 WHIP.
