After another dominant performance on Tuesday night, Jake Arrieta is finally starting to look like the pitcher that scouts have raved about for years.

The Chicago Cubs' RHP retired the first 18 Cincinnati Reds' batters he faced, before Billy Hamilton laced a single to center to lead-off the seventh inning. Arrieta allowed back-to-back RBI hits to Devin Mesoraco and Jay Bruce later in the inning before striking out Ryan Ludwick to end his evening.

While it was not the Perfect Game he appeared to be heading towards, Arrieta went seven strong innings on the night, allowing three hits, and striking out nine batters without allowing a walk. This is just the latest in a string of strong performances by Arrieta, who is quickly becoming an important part of the Cubs' future plans.

Throughout his carrer, Arrieta’s pure pitching talent has always been obvious, giving him an impressive amount of upside. That said, in parts of four seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Arrieta was never able to put things together at the big league level. He struggled with command, and while his “stuff” was still impressive, batters were perfectly willing to sit back and wait for him to make a mistake due to his lack of control.

The Cubs sensed a buy-low opportunity when they traded for Arrieta and relief pitcher Pedro Strop last July. Arrieta showed some promise with the Cubs last season, but it is safe to say that the team still had little idea what they had in the young right-hander as they headed into the off-season.

While he missed the first month of the season due to shoulder soreness, Arrieta has come out of the gates on fire. Due to his late start to the season, Arrieta is not qualified to be considered a league leader in statistical categories. If he was, his 2.05 ERA would be the second best in all of baseball, and his 2.09 FIP shows that the ERA is not a fluke.

Arrieta’s improvement in control is a likely a huge reason for his early season success. His 2.4 walks per nine innings are a huge improvement over the rest of his MLB career. On top of that, Arrieta is striking out 10.1 batters per nine innings so far this season, much higher than any other season of his career.

It is safe to say that his improved control has allowed him to showcase his impressive pitching talent more this season, and he has racked up the strikeouts.

Another reason for Arrieta’s turnaround this season has been his ability to keep the ball down in the strike zone. He has always been somewhat of a groundball pitcher, but his 51% groundball rate this season is far and away the highest of his career. Arrieta is using his sinking fastball effectively, allowing him to get weak contact for groundball outs. Combine that with his strikeout ability, and the Cubs may have found an All-Star caliber pitcher.

While his turnaround this season has been impressive, and there are many reasons to believe that it will continue, it is important to remember that it has only been through 10 starts. Arrieta has been fantastic, but a larger sample size of success is needed.

That said, it is easy to believe that this guy has finally turned the corner in his career. At 28-years-old, Arrieta has plenty of project-ability left, and could easily become a very important piece of the future of this Cubs’ organization. If he continues to control his pitches and keep the ball down, his potential is limitless.