A year ago, when Jose Bautista was leading all of baseball with 54 home runs, he was also mentoring the man who would lead all Blue Jay minor-leaguers in homers as well.
“Last year, Jose was a big part of my success,” says J.P. Arencibia, who hit 32 round-trippers for Las Vegas on his way to becoming the Pacific Coast League MVP.
“We would talk a about hitting and what I needed to do to get better. He helped me out an awful lot.”
Now, as Arencibia embarks on what he hopes will be his first full season in the big leagues, he and Bautista have become workout partners, competing with each other every day in the gym attached to the Blue Jay clubhouse.
“It’s a good match because we’re both very alike in the gym and the way we go about our work,” says Arencibia. “We’ve developed a really close relationship. We both really push each other.
“Jose’s one of the hardest workers here and he has a true passion to be the best at what he does. He doesn’t ever do anything for show.”
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