JP Arencibia Primed for Breakout Year?

jalenrose#5 · Post #1 » by **jalenrose#5** » Sun Mar 7, 2010 11:25 pm

As if that situation was not hard enough, Arencibia dealt with vision problems stemming from an astigmatism throughout last season.

During the day, Arencibia had no problems. It was a completely different story at night. That might explain why the catcher hit .227 in 97 night games and .284 during 19 afternoon contests during the 2009 campaign. Watching TV, recognizing street signs or trying to read stadium scoreboards became increasingly difficult.

After years of trying different contact lenses and glasses, Arencibia decided that undergoing Lasik eye surgery was the best option.

"Every doctor I talked to said, 'Wow, you're playing with that vision?'" Arencibia said. "So that was my indicator."

Arencibia Article

Any thoughts on this. I found the day/night splits quite glaring and if his vision is back to normal and he can actually see the ball, I really hope to see him hit .280 plus with around 25 HR's and 90 RBI's in AAA this year. It's wishful thinking that he'll make the team out of spring, but maybe a September callup might be in the cards?

Avenger · Post #2 » by **Avenger** » Mon Mar 8, 2010 1:56 am

jalenrose#5 wrote:
As if that situation was not hard enough, Arencibia dealt with vision problems stemming from an astigmatism throughout last season.

During the day, Arencibia had no problems. It was a completely different story at night. That might explain why the catcher hit .227 in 97 night games and .284 during 19 afternoon contests during the 2009 campaign. Watching TV, recognizing street signs or trying to read stadium scoreboards became increasingly difficult.

After years of trying different contact lenses and glasses, Arencibia decided that undergoing Lasik eye surgery was the best option.

"Every doctor I talked to said, 'Wow, you're playing with that vision?'" Arencibia said. "So that was my indicator."

Arencibia Article

Any thoughts on this. I found the day/night splits quite glaring and if his vision is back to normal and he can actually see the ball, I really hope to see him hit .280 plus with around 25 HR's and 90 RBI's in AAA this year. It's wishful thinking that he'll make the team out of spring, but maybe a September callup might be in the cards?

I would be shocked if he actually made the team from camp especially with all the catcher's we're carrying(none of them any good mind you). If he actually turned the corner, i want to see what he does in AAA for a couple of months before even thinking of calling him up.

satyr9 · Post #3 » by **satyr9** » Mon Mar 8, 2010 6:30 am

I'd be pretty happy if his prospect star got resurrected a bit. That class needs at least one of those guys to actually pan out. Still, I'm happy letting him rake in AAA this year, unless he really proves he's got nothing left to learn, which would be midseason at the earliest anyway.

FreeAgent · Post #4 » by **FreeAgent** » Mon Mar 8, 2010 6:41 pm

Just hit his 3rd HR of the spring in 3 games.

Post #5 » by **Schad** » Mon Mar 8, 2010 6:49 pm

In the first two weeks, most pitchers work on their command and loosening up, and don't throw a tonne of off-speed stuff. That's perfect for a dead-fastball hitter like Arencibia...hopefully this gives him some confidence going into the year.

Then again, he closed with a strong (OPS well over .800, 10 HRs in 142 ABs, and ten whole walks!) Aug/Sept, so perhaps he's starting to figure things out.

FreeAgent · Post #6 » by **FreeAgent** » Mon Mar 8, 2010 7:09 pm

Schadenfreude wrote:In the first two weeks, most pitchers work on their command and loosening up, and don't throw a tonne of off-speed stuff. That's perfect for a dead-fastball hitter like Arencibia...hopefully this gives him some confidence going into the year.

Then again, he closed with a strong (OPS well over .800, 10 HRs in 142 ABs, and ten whole walks!) Aug/Sept, so perhaps he's starting to figure things out.

Considering his eye problem may have been a huge factor in locating pitches, this could be a HUGE boost for a batter like him. I'm really hoping he turns things around. I love his power potential.

jalenrose#5 · Post #7 » by **jalenrose#5** » Mon Mar 8, 2010 8:28 pm

His power potential is what I'm really intrigued by. Not alot of catchers have that 25-30 HR power. Mauer, Martinez and maybe McCann.

Schad has a point with pitchers just feeling out and the advantage goes to the batters in the spring, but the guy just hit his 3rd homer of the spring, and from I heard on the radio, it was a monster shot. He needs to adopt the Adam Lind school of hitting, go up there with a plan, look fastball and try to crush it...or sit on breaking balls like Matt Stairs did.

His walk totals have been awful and need to be improved...how much did the vision problems affect the walk totals...that's anyone's guess...but it obviously couldn't make his batters eye that much better.

Post #8 » by **Schad** » Mon Mar 8, 2010 8:54 pm

jalenrose#5 wrote:His power potential is what I'm really intrigued by. Not alot of catchers have that 25-30 HR power. Mauer, Martinez and maybe McCann.

Definitely...a good defensive catcher that hits even .230/.285/.420 is pretty useful. If he can get to .250/.310/.440, we suddenly have a top-10 player at his position.

dagger · Post #9 » by **dagger** » Mon Mar 8, 2010 11:24 pm

Listen, if they want me to go to the ballpark and pay those c-suckers at Rogers to watch a sub.500 team, they've got to put some prospects on the ML roster. I enjoy watching prospects develop in any sport more than I want to pay to watch a bunch of over-the-hill placeholders.

I can understand not rushing Drabek, but if Arencibia is even close to being the real deal, let him start on the major league roster, and if he hits a wall early, send him down - like they did with Snyder. Considering we have another blue ribbon catching prospect coming up behind Arencibia, it's not like we have to be overly cautious.

Garmfay · Post #10 » by **Garmfay** » Tue Mar 9, 2010 1:43 am

I would keep Arencibia down in AAA since he still had a mediocre AAA season last year. And you know about ST...Jason Lane, Josh Towers etc. had incredible STs but they don't mean anything. I'd rather have a Buck, who is a veteran at calling the pitches to help mentor our young pitchers. Arencibia needs more experience in that category

Post #11 » by **OldNo7** » Tue Mar 9, 2010 2:34 am

JP was always a power prospect for a catcher. I really hope this helps him cut those strikeout numbers in half and improves on his plate discipline, as well as improve defensively. 1 more full season at AAA and hopefully he is ready for 2011 with the big club.

Dont forget that Eric Hinske had 8 HRs in ST during his last full year with the Jays (I think it was that year), so dont take everything from ST seriously.

Relentless88 · Post #12 » by **Relentless88** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:40 am

OldNo7 wrote:JP was always a power prospect for a catcher. I really hope this helps him cut those strikeout numbers in half and improves on his plate discipline, as well as improve defensively. 1 more full season at AAA and hopefully he is ready for 2011 with the big club.

Dont forget that Eric Hinske had 8 HRs in ST during his last full year with the Jays (I think it was that year), so dont take everything from ST seriously.

Yeah, didn't Gabe Gross also have that one great spring training with so many HRs, then sucked and got traded.

Post #13 » by **YogiStewart** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:42 pm

Schadenfreude wrote:In the first two weeks, most pitchers work on their command and loosening up, and don't throw a tonne of off-speed stuff. That's perfect for a dead-fastball hitter like Arencibia...hopefully this gives him some confidence going into the year.

Then again, he closed with a strong (OPS well over .800, 10 HRs in 142 ABs, and ten whole walks!) Aug/Sept, so perhaps he's starting to figure things out.

the BLue Jays have a nice history of spring training studs and Major League duds.

Gabe Gross, anyone?

LieCheatSteal · Post #14 » by **LieCheatSteal** » Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:59 pm

I would actually send him down lower to AA, give him some confidence at the lower levels with the improved vision and health, then bring him up to AAA mid year and then give him a September call up. Then, he'll be primed to start as backup in 2011.

In other words, don't have him with the big club now and, next year, have him under a vet catcher.

BTW, I'm shocked that the Jays didn't let anyone know that JP was going through these health issues. It's like they purposely devalued their top prospect last year.

squeekysneakers · Post #15 » by **squeekysneakers** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:48 am

I wouldn't mind him splitting time with Buck this season. The catchers we have in camp are all quantity and very little quality. Arencibia has played well and if he continues should be considered for a spot. If guys earn it, you have to give them a shot. It's not like they can't take it back and send him down. If he loses his confidence again it couldbe the end of him. He obviously has something to offer the Jays.

kavan · Post #16 » by **kavan** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:04 pm

We also have a history of having great ST Duds and great ML Players? Jason Werth? Hudson always sucked in Spring Training. Felipe Lopez never had a good ST.

squeekysneakers · Post #17 » by **squeekysneakers** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:59 pm

Jose Molina wasn't brought in to train pitchers in the minors but I really feel like Arencibia's time might be now. His confidence his high and he playing well. It would be a shame to kill his confidence in the minors, but he could use some fine tuning. We can't wait forever for the kid, we have to hand him the reins at some point. This wouldn't be a bad year to do it. He has lots of room to make mistakes.