Texas Rangers stock watch: J.P. Arencibia

The Texas Rangers recently recalled J.P. Arencibia from the Round Rock Express (AAA) to play mainly at first base.  Now it appears that the Rangers will likely be without Geovany Soto for a least a month.

That means it seems likely they’ll probably keep J.P. Arencibia up in at the major league level for the rest of the season.  If he was performing like he was during his time in triple-A ball then it probably wouldn’t be so bad.

During his time with the Express he managed to do quite well there.  Over 48 games/190 at-bats he had a .279 batting average with 8 doubles and 14 home runs.   Also, he played at first base during 20 games there.

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So far during his time back with the Rangers he’s play pretty good at first base, but his bat is back to being bad.  Yes, he has had a few hits during his time back with the Texas Rangers.  Over 6 games/19 at- bats he only has 3 hits.

Luckily for him 2 of those hits have been for home runs to give him 4 RBI.  He was the game hero during his first game back and was nearly the hero last night when he hit a solo homer in the top of the 13th against the New York Yankees.

He’s still has one of the worst batting averages in the league at .139 with an on-base percentage of .200.  This puts him on a pace to have a worse batting average than last year and just barely a better on-base percentage.

According to Fangraphs.com, J.P. Arencibia is almost at the top of batters that swing at the most pitches.  It seems like he has the worst plate discipline in the lineup.   He is able to make contact 76.4% of the time, but a majority of his hits are fly balls (50.8%) which are easily caught.

To compare that 50.8% fly ball rate, Adrian Beltre who has the 3rd best batting average of .325 in the  American League leading has a fly ball ratio of 36%.

It appeared that things were going better for J.P. Arencibia while in the minors, but it seems he back to struggling at the plate.  He’s still getting under the ball and popping it up.  He has managed to get a couple to go out of the park, but it doesn’t help the team overall.  Hopefully over the last 61 games of the season he’ll figure out his swing.  If he doesn’t, it is unlikely he’ll be back next season, but for now it appears he’s here to stay.