J.P.

Arencibia

The two-hit night was just Arencibia’s second in 17 September games, though the multi-RBI effort was his fourth. Batting .224/.282/.457 to go along with 47 extra-base hits and 78 RBI through 120 games in his first full season, Arencibia could be an elite option at catcher in 2012.

It was a solid, and much needed performance for Arencibia. He had really been battling it early on in the season, hitting just .063 (2-for-32) coming into play in this one. While he’s never going to contend for a batting title, he should be able to post an average in the .240 range and slug 20 or more home runs on the season.

It was the backup’s second start in three games over J.P. Arencibia, who is batting only 2-for-32 (.063). For his part, Mathis is playing out of his mind with a .444 batting average in three starts. His career batting average hovers around the Mendoza Line, so we don’t see him sustaining this pace for much longer.

The young catcher played the hero with a game-winning homer on Opening Day. But he is now batting 2-for-22 (.091) with 11 strikeouts. Arencibia fanned 27.4 percent of the time last season and shows no signs of improvement thus far.

Arencibia started the spring 0-for-8, but he’s 7-for-19 since. He’ll get another year to attempt to establish himself as Toronto’s long-term catcher. With Travis d’Arnaud on the way, Arencibia needs to improve both offensively and defensively if he’s going to have a future with the Blue Jays.

Arencibia is coming off an 0-for-4 performance and hasn’t done much offensively outside of his game-winning home run on Opening Day. Jeff Mathis will catch Kyle Drabek and bat ninth.

It looked like it’d be a quiet enough game before the Jays roared back with three runs in the ninth. After that, we got to see a five-man infield that worked out (Michael Brantley grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the 12th) and a benches clearing incident after Luis Perez nearly beaned Shin-Soo Choo in the 15th. It finally ended in the 16th, with Perez getting the win for four scoreless innings of work.

The homer was Arencibia’s first since his walkoff blast in the 16th inning against the Indians on Opening Day. It’s a safe bet that better power numbers are on the way. As for his batting average, well, that’ll likely remain a problem.

He took Jason Isringhausen deep in the seventh. Arencibia’s 11th home run of the season was only his second since May 27. Thanks in large part to a .189/.247/.284 June, Arencibia is hitting a rough .224/.263/.414 on the year.

Arencibia has been sidelined since July 25 with a fractured hand. He’s played a couple rehab games for High-A Dunedin, picking up two hits over nine at-bats. It’s possible Toronto will limit his playing time a bit initially.