Rangers send Arencibia to Triple A

By foxsports
Published

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Texas Rangers are hoping a trip to Triple A will help catcher J.P. Arencibia rediscover his batting stroke.

    

Arencibia, who is hitting just .133 in 60 at-bats, was sent to Round Rock Tuesday and the club has called up catcher Chris Gimenez to take his roster spot.

    

"I'll go down there and work," Arencibia said. "There's no hard feelings. It's just going down there and working hard and doing what I need to do to get back. Everyone knows what I can do and no it's just about doing it. That's pretty much it."

    

Arencibia, a career .208 hitter, is hoping consistent at-bats will help him. He has just one homer and four extra-base hits with Texas and has been in 0-2 counts in more than 30 percent of his at-bats.

    

Arencibia hasn't been a regular in the minors since 2010 when he hit .301 and was called up by Toronto.

    

"I'm not excited about it but again what could I say," Arencibia said. "It's my fault. I've got to produce. I've got to perform. Sometimes you've got to force their hand in a negative way. It's not something they enjoy. It's something I have to make an adjustment or whatever it is. My abilities haven't left me. It's just about going down there and getting consistent at-bats and working hard to get back here."

    

Gimenez was on the Opening Day roster with Texas after being picked up on a waiver claim from Oakland. He was hitting .259 for Round Rock with four home runs and 16 RBI.

    

Arencibia's playing time was limited by the emergence of Robinson Chirinos. General manager Jon Daniels said the club addressed its lack of offensive production at second base by promoting Rougned Odor. He thought the club also needed a boost at catcher and hopes the Chirinos-Gimenez duo does that.

    

"The work ethic was there," Daniels said. "I think Robinson had outplayed him to this point and was getting the bulk of the time. It's hard for J.P. to make some of the adjustments and changes he needs to make to be productive in sparing time. This gives him an opportunity to do that."