Toronto Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia expressed his frustration with broadcasters Gregg Zaun and Dirk Hayhurst in an interview with Sportsnet the Fan590, per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com.
J.P. Arencibia unhappy with Toronto Blue Jays broadcaters
The catcher believes that the announcers have been too critical of his performance and approach at the plate.
USA TODAY Sports
Arencibia was outspoken in his interview, and discussed a number of topics regarding the broadcasters. His frustration stemmed from the analysts criticism of the catcher’s on-field performance. The right-handed hitter owns a .244 on-base percentage, but does lead all catchers with 15 home runs.
More Arencibia: Bluebird Banter reacts to the comments
Arencibia says that he is trying to make adjustments to his approach, but making those changes is not as easy as the announcers make it appear to the public:
”They’ve played this game, and without playing this game and understanding every single day, I feel like they know more than the average person. Obviously, there are statistics out there and I know there’s a lot of knowledge from watching, but if you haven’t played the actual game and do what we do every day, offseason workout, away from your families the whole time ...
My point was, ‘Hey, don’t forget how hard the game is.’ I think sometimes we get away from that. I understand it’s part of the job, but my points were my points.”
The catcher also discussed Zaun’s name appearing on the 2007 Mitchell Report, which investigated the use of performance-enhancing drugs in MLB:
“One, not a lot of us, including myself, respect a person who used performance-enhancing drugs and was able to stick around as a below-average player in the Major Leagues. I’ve worked my entire career, I’ve worked hard. I’ve never done anything, I never put anything in my body and I go out there and bust my butt every day -- it’s not an easy game.”
Hayhurst had a private conversation with Arencibia before Thursday night’s game in an attempt to clear the air. The broadcaster also responded while co-hosting “Baseball Central” on Rogers Sportsnet:
“I think he has every right to feel the way he does and he had every right to voice his opinion on critics. He’s had a really rough year. ... Our job as analysts is to look at some of the negative stuff. And you look at the play that J.P. Arencibia has had this year and there’s been a lot of negative things to discuss.”
Toronto kicks off a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins on Friday.
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