JP Arencibia's Health Troubles

by Tom Dakers on Feb 23, 2010 10:54 AM EST in Toronto Blue Jays News

Richard Griffin, in today's star, has a story telling us about the health troubles that J.P. Arencibia had last year:

The 24-year-old first-round draft pick in 2007, participating in his second major-league camp, spent the '09 season battling kidney issues and astigmatism, affecting his night vision. His batting average under the lights of Vegas suffered and his energy was sapped.

In September, he underwent surgeries to correct both problems and is now ready to push for a major league spot, likely by 2011.

I don't know why we couldn't have been told about this last year, but I'd imagine the vision trouble had something to do with why he had such a bad year. I think it would be hard to hit if your night vision was good. Most games in Vegas would be at night, day games in the desert wouldn't be much fun. .

Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing how he does this season

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That's a horrible injury/contition to have for a Catcher. Good to hear him doing so well. Hopefully he can be up with the club by the All star break.

by syc on Feb 23, 2010 11:24 AM EST reply actions

After looking at his stats from last year

It really shows. In the day (small sample size mind you), his stats do improve:

Day: .338/.432/.770
Night: .274/.446/.720

Its strange to see his slugging percentage improve slightly at night, but the numbers don’t really lie. Hope he’s over his condition before the 2010 season starts.

by Frag on Feb 23, 2010 11:31 AM EST reply actions

hmmmm I'm not understanding

JP hit .236/.284/.444 overall last year…Oh ok, you are using his OBP/SLG/OPS. The slugging up might be because the park in Vegas is small.

by Tom Dakers on Feb 23, 2010 11:38 AM EST up reply actions

He had 74ab during the day all season, drawing ANY conclusions from that sample is not wise.

by jayjay on Feb 23, 2010 2:52 PM EST up reply actions

Which was why I added, “small sample size mind you”.

by Frag on Feb 23, 2010 11:04 PM EST up reply actions

but you prefaced that with “it really shows”. It really shows absolutely nothing b/c the sample is too small to be on any value. His day vs night results were meaningless b/c the sample was too small to draw any conclusions.

by jayjay on Feb 24, 2010 4:25 PM EST up reply actions

vision problems could explain some of his poor pitch recognition

but it’s strange that it hasn’t seemed to affect his work behind the plate, which has been consistently rated highly.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Feb 23, 2010 12:27 PM EST reply actions

isn’t it easier to catch a ball with a glove/block it with your body than to pinpoint it with the barrel of your bat for solid contact?

by 7-9nomore on Feb 23, 2010 12:33 PM EST up reply actions

I wouldn't say "easier," no

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Feb 23, 2010 2:03 PM EST up reply actions

Really?

Pretty sure if I communicated with the pitcher and knew in what general ballpark the pitch was coming I could catch at least 50% of 10 pitches thrown at me today.

I would be thrilled if I made contact with one of ten if I was standing at the plate with a bat.

Not to discredit the job catchers do, I just think hitting would be significantly more difficult than catching.

Knights, Canucks, Dolphins, Jays and Raptors all the way.

by Jevant on Feb 23, 2010 2:22 PM EST up reply actions

sure, in terms of the physical motion of catching

but that’s not really what we’re talking about. There’s a reason that catching is one of the hardest defensive positions to play on the diamond and arguably requires the best baseball mind of any position.

For one thing, you have to call the game, which requires you to be one step ahead of the hitters – so in a way, you have to see the ball even better than they do.

I don’t mean to overstate my point – in many ways, hitting a major-league pitch is the hardest thing to do in all of pro sports, let alone baseball, but I don’t think it’s as simple as saying that catching is easier than pitching. Put it this way, there are a lot more guys who can hit major-league pitching in MLB than there are guys who could be legitimate MLB catchers.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Feb 23, 2010 2:33 PM EST up reply actions

Hitting is more difficult

but if you only caught 50% of the pitches thrown you wouldn’t be considered a decent catcher.

by Tom Dakers on Feb 23, 2010 2:33 PM EST up reply actions

I have no idea how good you are at catching a baseball

but that also seems overly optimistic to me. Have you caught a 90 mph pitch before while crouching, a mid-80s slider with a sharp, late break, or a curve that ends up at your feet?

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Feb 23, 2010 2:35 PM EST up reply actions

Perhaps

We are splitting hairs and talking about different things.

If you’re talking about the overall aspect of being a ML catcher versus being a ML hitter, I would agree, the gap is smaller. I thought you were suggesting there wasn’t a difference between hitting a ball and catching one.

You are r

Knights, Canucks, Dolphins, Jays and Raptors all the way.

by Jevant on Feb 23, 2010 2:49 PM EST up reply actions

Right, we’re not really disagreeing. Certainly it is easier to catch a pitch from behind the plate with a much larger catcher’s mitt than it is to hit it with a stick only a few inches wide, particularly when you know what’s coming. My only point was that I would expect poor vision to impact the defensive side of a catcher’s game, not just his hitting, but I agree it wouldn’t be in an obvious way like him totally whiffing on a significant number of pitches from behind the plate.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on Feb 23, 2010 2:53 PM EST up reply actions

If he’s calling the game, most of the pitches are either around where he calls it, or the pitcher is the one responsible for crossing up the signals. Add that to the easier action of blocking/catching, and it makes sense that there is a gap, although how much is anyone’s guess.

by dexfarkin on Feb 23, 2010 1:52 PM EST up reply actions

The C is wide open right now

Buck and Molina are hardly a block. Good luck J.P.

HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THEM, I PRESS DOWN MAH GUNS!

by BenjiDoc on Feb 23, 2010 12:48 PM EST reply actions

All making sense now

I was wondering what was with JP. Last year was to much of a regression. Lets hope he can get healthy.

by Jesse Taylor on Feb 23, 2010 4:07 PM EST reply actions

Mulligan?

He had a CRAP year. Tonnes of SO’s and a low average… I really hope it was beause of the injuries and he comes back healthy and plays great.

I’ll wait and see how he does this year, but as of now i think he can only improve

by FenixL on Feb 23, 2010 5:04 PM EST reply actions

He still hit a lot of HR’s for a guy only in his second full year in the minors. Perhaps he should have stayed in AA last year. He also had a strong finish to the year.
.349 avg, 6 hrs, 1.2 OPS in his last ten games.

by Joey P on Feb 23, 2010 8:48 PM EST reply actions