There is as much risk as there is trust in the Arencibia Prjoect for the Blue Jays.
DUNEDIN -- It's 8:20 in the morning when J.P. Arencibia bounces by inside the Toronto Blue Jays spring training clubhouse.
Either he has consumed a full pot of Costa Rican dark roast, or he's having the time of his life here at the First Spring Training of the Rest of His Life.
"How ya doin' today?" he says, overly-amped, stopping and thrusting out a hand.
Let's be straight: He doesn't know me from Adam. But he kindly gave me 10 minutes the day before, and this guy is so far from being a jaded big leaguer, he can't possibly walk past 24 hours later without stopping and saying hello.
How long will it last?
That, friends, is the theme song for a 25-year-old who after 11 big league games has been given the keys to the car by this organization as their starting catcher from now until… Well, who knows when?
"It's something you dream about," he said. "It'll be my first Opening Day on Apr. 1. I'm really, really excited about it. But I don't feel nervous. I'm ready for the opportunity. I'm ready to have my shot; to help the team win."
The last part -- the "help the team win" -- is usually a throwaway line that every player adds on to the end of a quote, just to come off as a team guy. But it's not like that in Arencibia's case.
With a starting staff that will come in at an average age of 25 years, Arencibia's duties -- and the ensuing trust placed in him by the organization -- stretch far beyond his own boundaries.
"The most important thing? His ability to get the best out of his pitcher every single day," said Buck Martinez, the former catcher turned Sportsnet broadcaster who will call Sunday's game from Dunedin. "Put the pitcher at the top of your list. What it's going to take for him to succeed every day.
"You, as a catcher, have to get the most out of him."
Baseball long ago dubbed Arencibia's gear "the tools of ignorance." In fact, the position requires an innate knowledge of more teammates' likes, dislikes, habits and tendencies than anyone other on the diamond.
Arencibia's first 11 major league games came only last season. For this organization to hand the reins to him so soon, well, there is as much risk as there is trust involved in the decision.
"We know he can hit. We have to get our pitching staff to throw well, and he's a big part of that," said bench coach Don Wakamatsu, a former catcher who is in charge -- along with Blue Jays catcher Jose Molina -- of the Arencibia Project.
"It's an expedited learning curve. There's a lot of information we have to disseminate to him," Wakamatsu said. "We're talking about being able to catch, being able to swing the bat. We're talking about advance meetings, data, all those things he has to process. And compete. It's a daunting task."
In his historic debut last Aug. 7 vs. Tampa, Arencibia, became only the second player in MLB history to have two home runs and four hits in his major league debut. No catcher in the history of the game ever had four hits in his major league debut.
After that stellar start however, the Miami native had just one more hit in his next 10 games. He finished with a .143 average against big league pitching.
The question then becomes, if the kid struggles with the bat, will it affect his primary mandate behind the plate?
"It doesn't. Ever," he says, seemingly ready for the question. "That's one thing you have to know in the position: Regardless of how it's going at the plate, it's that pitcher's one day to perform. It's his one outing, his one day I need to give him everything I have for his one day.
"I may be struggling, but I'm going to play the next day and get my at bats. My job is to get that pitcher through those innings, so we can have that opportunity to win by the end of the game."
In the end, as long as Arencibia is a capable receiver, the Blue Jays can wait for his bat to come around. His numbers at every minor league level suggest it will.
And if the bat catches up to the glove?
Well, isn't that what the developing Blue Jays are all about?
