J.P. Arenciba: Hit 31 Home Runs in Minors Before Debut
J.P. Arenciba who homered for the Blue Jays Saturday on his first major league pitch and then homered later in the game hit 31 home runs this year in the minors for the second most home runs in professional baseball.
J.P. Arenciba may have surprised most baseball fans on Saturday by hitting his first pitch for a home run and then homering again in the sixth inning for the Toronto Blue Jays. However the Blue Jays organization have been expecting this kind of power from Arenciba since he has hit with power in the minors this season.
24 year old Arenciba had hit 31 home runs and 79 runs batted in so far in the minor leagues this season and the two home runs Saturday gave him 33 for the season leaving him one behind Jose Bautista with 34 who leads all of professional baseball with 34 home runs.
He hit .313 for Las Vegas in the Pacific Coast League while having an OBP of .367, slugging .658 and posting an OPS of 1.025 which leads all minor leaguers with at least 300 at bats.
Arenciba was called up after John Buck the catcher this season for the Blue Jays was placed on the DL. However Buck is scheduled to be back on August 20. If Arenciba continues to hit well Buck may finish the season as the backup for Arenciba.
Baseball Notebook 
I saw JP a little over a week ago when we saw the Rivercats/Las Vegas 51’s play. Also, I hear Chris Carter may be getting called up by the A’s. They have him playing the outfield now and could supply them with some power.
I have been watching for a Chris Carter callup. I know he will be called up in September but would like to see him called up sooner.
See Chavez is talking about retirement again. He and Mike Hampton may hold the record for most money made while on the DL.
From what I saw, Carter may be called up this week. Too bad about Eric Chavez, just could not get away from the injury bug. Hope he had a good financial advisor because his playing days are over.
Just saw Carter had 27 home runs and 89 runs batted in. I am sure the A’s don’t have that kind of power from anyone this season. See the Rivercats are only a game out of first place.
Chavez has earned $75 million so hope he didn’t go through that much money. He will make $3 million on buyout next season instead of the $12.5 team option.
They switched him from 1st to outfield to get him up sooner. Only problem is his batting avg, which is around .250.Rivercats have come from way back. They trailed Fresno by about 12 games about a month ago and now are only a game back. They have tied it a couple of times only to fall back again. It is always interesting this time of year when the big league club wants the prospects and the AAA team is contending. Rivercats will have to make their run with some new players, but that is how they have been successful in the past.
Must be nice to have a retirement plan like Chavez where he can retire at 32 with $75 million plus the $3 million buyout next year. I didn’t get nearly that much when I retired from newspaper.
Chavez has hit 67 home runs in six year contract for $66 million. I think the A’s were expecting 180 home runs for their money.
That is impressive to come back from 12 games behind. That is problem for minor league teams. It is raid the farm clubs time of the season to get prospects a chance in the majors to see what they can do. Rivercats seem to have handled it well though since they usually are one of the better playoff teams.