Otto: Arrieta's gem against Mets off the charts

Jake Arrieta is all right.

Before his 7 innings of 1-run work Tuesday, a string of 4 mediocre starts had fueled some speculation, and I, too, was curious.

Had Arrieta lost something off his fastball? Had he lost some bite or sharpness off his cutter, slider and curveball? Was he nibbling and not pounding the strike zone?

Sometimes, a good old-fashioned pitching chart can tell a story of how well or poorly a pitcher is executing his pitches.

Charting a pitcher is very similar to keeping score of a game on a score card where each play result is written down, inning by inning. However, in charting a pitcher each and every pitch is written down and can be dissected.

Before all this information was recorded and available with a click of a mouse, teams would have the next day's starting pitcher keep a pitching chart.

By charting, it also was a way for that next-day pitcher to become familiar with the hitters.

The Washington Nationals, under pitching coach Mike Maddux, might be the only team in the league that still has starters chart pitches. The Cubs are one of the best teams in the league in gathering information and using it effectively. Albeit, without the old-school way of taking a pencil to a pitching chart.

However, why not chart Arrieta against the Mets, and search for areas where he might not be executing his pitches at a level the Cubs are accustomed to?

With that intention, I picked the wrong game to chart Arrieta. His start against the Mets, though, would be considered an unofficial chart master's dream.

First, the fastball.

For the first 5 innings, Arrieta's fastball was consistently at 94-95 mph. He had a tiny drop in velocity in the last 2 innings of work, where a couple of fastballs were 92-93 mph.

Compared to the windup, a pitcher's most important pitches in a game are out of the stretch, because that means men are on base and a mistake could lead to runs scored. Of the 27 batters faced, I counted only six hitters Arrieta had to face out of the stretch. And four of those hitters were in his last inning when his pitches still were sharp.

Arrieta's final pitch that night, a cut fastball, might have been his nastiest, which is another great sign as to his durability and stuff with men on base.

Out of 85 pitches, I counted 11 swings on pitches out of the strike zone, a pretty good indication of just how sharp Arrieta's pitches were that night.

Mets hitters had a tough time laying off pitches that looked like they were going to be strikes. In unofficial fashion, I also counted 7 pitches I would categorize as “filthy”, where the Mets had no chance.

There was no nibbling out of the strike zone on this night. Arrieta went right after the Mets.

Of the 27 hitters faced, Arrieta had 20 first-pitch strikes. He set the tempo early by throwing first-pitch strikes to eight of nine Mets hitters the first time through the batting order. Against two hitters in this gem, he only had to throw 6 pitches. He also threw all 5 of his different pitches for strikes throughout the game.

Pitchers are only as good as their last start or appearance, and it all begins again Monday night for Arrieta against the White Sox.

The really good ones take each start one at a time, and they don't look too far ahead or behind. It's a tall order, but if Arrieta executes his pitches anywhere close to the way he did against the Mets, he's giving his team an excellent chance to win each and every time he grabs the baseball.

• Dave Otto, a standout athlete at Elk Grove High School, pitched from 1987-1994 for four MLB teams, including the Cubs. A former baseball analyst for WGN Radio, FoxSportsNet and Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Otto also is a member of the University of Missouri Hall of Fame.