If Jake Arrieta’s ascent from Baltimore castoff to Cy Young winner had a Hollywood moment, it would be his reclamation of a single pitch: his slider/cutter amalgam pitch.
When The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma recently asked him what he called that pitch, Arrieta’s exact response was, “Whatever.”
Because “whatever” isn’t that catchy, we’ll just call it a slider. Maybe a cutter. Probably a slider/cutter. As Arrieta would say, it’s all about feel.
When Arrieta began his professional career with the Orioles, they insisted that he not use the slider/cutter as much per organizational philosophy. Baltimore believes in heavily regulating its pitchers in order to protect them from injury.