J.P. Arencibia Announces Retirement

Former big league catcher J.P Arencibia has announced his retirement from the game in a message on Twitter. He’ll hang ’em up after parts of a half-dozen seasons at the major league level.

Arencibia didn’t spend any time in the big leagues last year, when he played at Triple-A with the Rays and Phillies organizations. But he had reached the majors in each of the prior six campaigns, beginning in 2010 with the Blue Jays.

Surely, Arencibia will be remembered most for his time in Toronto, where he was the regular catcher for three seasons. The first two of those went pretty well for the slugging receiver, as he combined for a .225/.279/.437 slash with 41 home runs over 2011-12.

But 2013 proved a turning point for Arencibia, who hit just .194/.227/.365 — though he appeared in a career-high 138 games. Always prone to swinging and missing, he ended that year with 148 strikeouts against just 18 walks. He later saw time in the majors with the Rangers and the Rays, but never regained his standing as a regular behind the dish.

Having failed to make it back to the game’s highest level in 2016, there was little question that the 31-year-old would have been looking at another minor-league assignment while waiting and hoping for another opportunity. Instead, he’ll move on.

As he humorously put it in his announcement: “I really never could take a walk in my career but this walk will be my biggest yet, I’m walking away from baseball.” MLBTR wishes Arencibia the very best in his future endeavors.