In the roughly six weeks that Phillies manager Gabe Kapler has had to get acquainted with Jake Arrieta, a few characteristics about the $75 million ace have been self-evident.
Wipeout sinker? Seen it.
Nasty cutter? Yep, seen that, too.
Leadership qualities? Check.
But one thing Arrieta seldom did in his first two Phillies starts was generate swings and misses. It happened only nine times in 162 pitches, a 5.6 percent whiff rate that paled in comparison to his 9.0 percent career average.
“I haven’t even noticed it,” Kapler said, dismissing the statistical dip to the proverbial small sample size provided by the first month of any season.