J.P Arrencibia

J.P. Arencibia, otherwise known as J.P.A, or recently as, “the homerun hitting machine” is on fire, having currently hit safely in 32 of his last 34 games and raising his average from .254 to .316 and his OPS to 1.036.

Originally a first round pick (21st overall) with the Toronto Blue Jays, Arencibia started with the Auburn Doubledays, upgraded to both Dunedin and New Hampshire in 2008, and has currently been playing with Las Vegas since 2009. Last year, he held a .236 average, hit 21 homeruns, 75 RBI and had a .286 OBP, this year, however, things have been incredibly different.

To begin, JPA has an outstanding 20 home runs and 44 RBIs in his last 35 games. He now leads Triple-A (and in fact, all of the minors), with a homerun total of 28. This is already 7 more than he hit in all of last year.

Tied for second with 22 homeruns, are Brad Eldred (Colorado) and Greg Halman (Tacoma). However, it is also interesting to note that they have the same amount of doubles COMBINED (Eldred 16, Halman 11) as Arencibia with 27.

His 2-run homerun in yesterday’s game tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. It was also his 3rd homerun in five games since being back from the All Star Break.

In last night’s game, Arencibia also supplied an RBI double and sacrifice fly, giving him three RBIs for the game and 69 on the season. This total places him 2nd overall in Triple-A, just behind Mark Trumbo, who has 73.

Discussing his power surge, Arencibia was quoted saying:

“A lot of it has to do with me failing last year. I’ve been trying to be consistent in my mental and physical approach every day and it’s been paying off. It’s been a fun time.”

This fun time, we hope, will only continue. It does lead to speculation as to whether John Buck, will be traded, in hopes of making room for him on Toronto’s roster. As always, we’ll keep you updated on his progress and on any trade speculations.