26-year old righty swinging J.P. Arencibia has big time power at the plate, but he doesn’t hit for much of an average and he’s not a good defensive catcher. Arencibia played in 129 games for the Blue Jays as a rookie last year and he was 97 for 443 (.219 avg, .720 OPS) with 47 runs scored, 23 homers, 78 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 140 games in his first two years with the Jays and he is 102 for 478 (.213 avg, .706 OPS) with 50 runs scored, 25 homers, 82 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Arencibia played in 122 games behind the plate for the Blue Jays last year and he had 6 errors and 12 passed balls. He threw out 18 of 115 (15.7%) base stealers last year and Jays’ pitchers had a 4.31 ERA with him behind the plate. The Jays hope Arencibia tightens up his defense in 2012.

28-year old righty swinging Jeff Mathis will be the Jays’ backup catcher in 2012. He played in 93 games for the Angels last year and he was 43 for 247 (.174 avg, .484 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 3 homers, 22 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Mathis has now played in 426 games in his first 2 years in the majors and he is 233 for 1,201 (.194 avg, .557 OPS) with 132 runs scored, 26 homers, 139 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. Mathis is one of the very worst hitters in all of baseball. Mathis was behind the plate for 91 games for the Angels last year in which he had 3 errors and 6 passed balls. He threw out 12 of 66 (18.2%) base stealers last year and Angels’ pitchers had a 3.25 ERA when he was behind the plate. The Jays are hoping that Mathis will do a solid job of handling the Jays’ pitchers when he plays in 2012.

23-year old righty swinging Travis D’Arnaud is coming into this season as the Blue Jays’ #1 prospect according to Baseball America. D’Arnaud played in 114 games in AA-ball last year and he was 132 of 424 (.311 avg, .914 OPS) with 72 runs scored, 21 homers, 78 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. He has now played in 416 games in his first five years in the minors and he is 430 for 1,549 (.278 avg, .788 OPS) with 230 runs scored, 50 homers, 237 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. D’Arnaud was one of the keys in the Roy Halladay deal a couple of years ago, so the Jays aren’t going to hold him back when he’s deemed ready.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2012: C