Repeat no-no? Arrieta’s next chapter tonight

Less than three years ago, Jake Arrieta’s career seemed to be stalled.

Previously a well-regarded prospect, the right-hander struggled to gain a foothold at the Major League level, posting a 5.46 ERA in 69 games (63 starts) for the Orioles from 2010-13. Then, on July 2, 2013, Baltimore sent Arrieta — then pitching at Triple-A Norfolk — to the Cubs as part of a trade for veteran pitcher Scott Feldman. Arrieta’s career didn’t quite turn around instantaneously, but by the next year, he was a top-five pitcher in the National League — and that was just the beginning.

• Double-take Jake? Arrieta set for no-hitter encore tonight at 8 ET

The 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner enters Wednesday’s outing against the Brewers with a streak of 24 consecutive quality starts, including two no-hitters, the second of which came last Thursday at Cincinnati. His numbers during that span are mind-boggling: a 0.86 ERA, a 0.70 WHIP and a .150 opponent average.

The most amazing part of Arrieta’s run might be just how abruptly he made the jump from fringe big leaguer to elite performer, at the relatively advanced age of 28. In fact, Arrieta (who turned 30 on March 6) is a brand of late bloomer that Major League Baseball has never before seen.

The 15-WAR club From out of nowhere, Arrieta posted 5.3 wins above replacement (WAR) for the Cubs in 2014, 8.7 more in ’15 and 1.4 already this season, for a total of 15.4 (thus far) at ages 28-30. That makes Arrieta the 62nd pitcher since 1901 to reach at least 15 WAR over that same span, according to baseball-reference.com.

Prior to his breakout two years ago, Arrieta had accrued a mere 1.1 WAR. The other 61 pitchers in the aforementioned group averaged 19.3 WAR before age 28, led by Hall of Famer Walter Johnson’s 82.6. Only one began his age-28 season with fewer WAR than Arrieta, and that was Boston Braves …

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