We love catchers.
The O’s inked another backstop on Thursday, signing former Blue Jay J.P. Arencibia to a minor league deal, per Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun.
Arencibia spent 2010-13 in Toronto before going to Texas last season. While O’s fans may remember him as a threat in that Toronto lineup, unfortunately, against everyone else, he was pretty mediocre.
One reason Os eyed Arencibia: .207 lifetime hitter batted .304 (/.338/.565) in 69 at-bats at Camden Yards in his career
— Dan Connolly (@danconnollysun) January 8, 2015
So yeah, almost 100 points higher at OPACY than anywhere else. He has a career .207/.253/.405 slash line.
His defense doesn’t seem much better. At one point in July of 2013, according to this story, Arencibia had made five errors and allowed 34 stolen bases and 10 passed balls. Yikes.
Caleb Joseph has little to worry about.
Nonetheless, Arencibia’s minor league deal includes an invite to major league spring training, so expect to see him in Sarasota. With Matt Wieters unlikely ready to do much in March, the Birds should be able to get a pretty good look at J.P.
Then there’s this, which is pretty cool:
Played for them as a kid forever, now I get to put on that uniform again as a big kid. O's #Blessed pic.twitter.com/G0ftL036um
— jp arencibia (@jparencibia9) January 8, 2015