(WJZ/AP) — Jake Arrieta, a former Baltimore Orioles draft pick and a key pitcher on the Chicago Cubs’ 2016 World Series championship team, has decided to retire.
Arrieta made the announcement during a Barstool Sports podcast.
“I haven’t signed the papers, man, but I’m done. It’s time for me to step away from the game,” he said. “At some point the uniform goes to somebody else and it’s just my time, really.”
The 36-year-old Arrieta went 5-14 with a 7.39 ERA in 24 starts for the Cubs and San Diego Padres last season. He finishes his career with a 115-93 record and 3.98 ERA in 285 games, 279 starts, over 12 years in the majors.
Selected in the fifth-round of the 2007 amateur draft, Arrieta made his Baltimore debut in 2010 as part of a group of pitching prospects –which included Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz and Zack Britton — known as “the cavalry.”
Only Tillman had success as a starting pitcher with the ballclub. In four seasons in orange and black, Arrieta went 20-25 with a 5.46 ERA in 69 games, 63 of them starts.
Britton and Matusz went on to find roles in the Orioles bullpen, with the former becoming an elite closer and two-time All-Star.
Arrieta harnessed his talent after a change of scenery. Attempting to build off the success of their Wild Card run a year before, the Orioles dealt Arrieta, reliever Pedro Strop and cash to the Cubs for starting pitcher Scott Feldman and catcher Steve Clevenger on July 2, 2013.
The deal ended up being a key move in Chicago’s rise from the bottom of the NL Central to one of the majors’ best teams.
Arrieta won the NL Cy Young Award with Chicago in 2015 and helped the Cubs win the 2016 World Series for their first championship since 1908.
He was a dominant force in 2015, going 22-6 with a sparkling 1.77 ERA in 33 starts. He followed his Cy Young campaign with 18 wins and a 3.10 ERA in 31 starts in 2016, including by a no-hitter on April 21 against the Cincinnati Reds.
Arrieta also performed well in the postseason during his first stint with Chicago. He tossed a five-hitter in the Cubs’ 4-0 win at Pittsburgh in the 2015 NL wild-card game. And he won both his World Series starts at Cleveland in 2016, compiling a 2.38 ERA in 11 1/3 innings.
The 6-foot-4 right-hander signed a $75 million, three-year contract with Philadelphia in March 2018 and went 22-23 with a 4.36 ERA in 64 starts with the Phillies.