Cubs Quick Hits: Jake Arrieta ‘Not 100%,’ Oddly Throwing Faster

After throwing a stinker in which he needed 67 pitches to get through three innings, Jake Arrieta decided to freak us all out by saying he’s not fully healthy.

More Arrieta: Im plenty healthy enough to go out there, compete & pitch at a high level. I just wasnt able to do that tonight, unfortunately

— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) September 27, 2017

Visually, too, you could sort of tell that Arrieta wasn’t as aggressive in his delivery against the third-place Cardinals. Rather than gearing back and driving hard through that lead leg, his effort was more casual, almost like he was throwing a bullpen session.

But you know what’s weird? Since coming back, the former Cy Young winner has been throwing faster than at any point during the year. His four-seamer averaged 93.7 mph — his fastest of 2017 — in his first start back from the hamstring injury. And Tuesday night against the Cardinals, he averaged 92.9 mph.

He’s likely recruiting more from other muscle groups to make up for the missing leg drive, but it’s still somewhat odd to see the higher velo with seemingly less effort.