Arrieta’s shaky fastball command ‘fixable’

CHICAGO — Jake Arrieta most likely won’t win 20 games this season. The Cubs are more concerned about helping the right-hander regain his fastball command heading into October.

Arrieta was charged with four runs over six innings in the Cubs’ 11-3 loss on Saturday to the Brewers at Wrigley Field. He walked four, and he now has issued 21 walks and given up 22 hits over 37 1/3 innings in his past six starts. That’s a lot of baserunners. Last season, the right-hander averaged 1.89 walks per nine innings, and this year, it’s 3.54 walks per nine. Is there some concern?

“Of course there is,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “We have to figure out what’s going wrong. I cannot deny that, and I’m sure he’ll say the same thing.”

The problem seems to be early in the count.

“I just need to find that comfort with the sinker in the strike zone, first pitch, and after that, it opens up a lot of doors,” Arrieta said. “It has a lot to do with the guy who’s in the box and the execution. It needs to be better early in the counts to prevent guys from taking pitches and getting into 2-1, 3-1 counts. I just need to …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com