Recently, suspicions have been spread across the MLB about Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta using steroids to better his performance on the field.
We all know what he has been doing to start the season so far, and the stats that he has been putting up are ridiculous, but is this the result of hard work or steroids?
When Arrieta was traded from the Orioles to the Cubs, he was a struggling pitcher who was thought to be an average relief pitcher for the Cubs. In 2013, while he was still on the Orioles his ERA was at a scary 7.23 and critics started to write him off to be failure and would say he would never to be a successful starter in the MLB.
Three years ago Jake Arrieta had this conversation with a fan on Twitter.
Believe in yourself & never give up ✊🏻 pic.twitter.com/YzzUZSTGWW
— Baseball Fam (@ShtBallPlayrsDo) April 23, 2016
That is until the Cubs made a deal with the O’s to swap Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger for Arrieta. It isn’t until 2014 until we started to see the potential of Arrieta, as he finished the season with a 10-5 record and a 2.53 ERA which obviously significantly better than his career high at the time. But, 2015 is the year that we all know Arrieta exploded on the scene, as he won the NL CY Young and led the Cubs to the NLCS. So far this season, we’ve seen what we all expected to see from Jake, as he just recently pitched a no hitter against the Cincinnati Reds. Can a player make that big of jump in his career without taking steroids? Going from a no name player to the pitcher that everyone is afraid to face is quite the accomplishment. When accused of taking steroids, Arrieta laughed it off and told reporters to “That’s not what the ten tests I take a year show. I eat plants. I eat lean meat. I work out and I do things the right way.” This comment itself shows me that he isn’t juicing, cause why laugh at the matter if you are actually doing it? But that’s not my call. What do you guys think? Will Arrieta be another player to fall under the influence of steroids, or is he just a Cinderella story?
