O’s pitcher switches sides

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    There’s no guarantee when one athlete joins a team that he will meet the expectations of those who hired him.  Former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jake Arrieta is the perfect example.

Arrieta recently signed with the Chicago Cubs after struggling with the Orioles for seasons. Arrieta threw a no hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers while playing for the Cubs.  He went on to  throw six no hitters with the Cubs, and zero with the Orioles.

Jordan Smith, a graduate from NHHS, has attended 15 Orioles games this season. Smith said, “I don’t miss watching Arrieta play because he never really did anything amazing. All I remember is him throwing bad during games.”   Smith said he loves watching games with no hitters but he has never seen a no hitter besides on tv. The last no hitter that was thrown by the Orioles was July 13,1991. This was before Smith was even alive.

“I would love to just have one game for them to do it again. Even if I wasn’t at the game in person, I would still love to see it,” said Smith, whose favorite thing to watch during Orioles games is the pitching because it is unbelievable how good they are. “I wish that Arrieta threw like this when he was with the Orioles because the amount of games I have attended within the last two years I probably would have seen one of the no hitters,” said Smith.

Jake Arrieta is apparently a very good piece to the puzzle for the Cubs. At 6’4”, 225 lbs, Arrieta is on the bigger side for pitchers. But this doesn’t seem to stop him from proving himself. Is being big an advantage? Is he getting lucky? There is too much to think about Arrieta’s six no hitters. There is also rumor about Arrieta retiring after this season so he ends on a good note, or maybe will he keep going and see if he can do it again next year.

Will Arrieta continue to dominate MLB for a second time in the 2016 season, or will he decide to continue his life as a hall of fame player for the Cubs by making about half of the Cubs no hitters in history in just one season?