JP Arencibia and MLB Debuts

A couple of weeks ago, Alex Rodriguez fouled a pitch straight back, which hit John Buck in the finger, causing Buck to exit the game. He was later placed on the disabled list, which led to the call up of top Jays catching prospect JP Arencibia. Arencibia was drafted 21st overall by the Jays in the 2007 MLB draft, and last Saturday he finally started his first major league game. He hit a home run on the first pitch of his first major league at-bat, then proceeded to get a double, single, and another home run. He finished the game 4 for 5 with two home runs, 3 runs, and 3 RBIs. The Jays won the game 17-11, and his debut was immediately praised everywhere, from Jays nation to leading off Sportscenter. But just how good was his debut?

To start off, Arencibia became the first Blue Jay to have at least 4 hits in his MLB debut. He also became only the 15th player in MLB history with at least four hits. He was only the second player since 1998 to get 4 hits (Wilson Ramos, now of the Nationals, got 4 hits in his debut for the Twins in May), and had the most RBIs for any player with at least 4 hits.

But not only did Arencibia get 4 hits, he also hit for power, with 3 out of the 4 hits going for extra bases. He became only the 4th player in major league history with 2 HRs in his debut, and the first since 1999 (and only the 2nd since 1964). Out of those players with 2 HRs (Mark Quinn in 1999, Bert Campaneris in 1964, and Bob Nieman in 1951), he was the only player with 4 total hits (the other 3 only had 3 hits). So he hit with power as well as any other player ever making their debut, but hit for average better than any player with power.

Related to the number of home runs he hit is the total number of bases he hit for. He actually had the most total bases ever hit in a major league debut (11), and became only the second player in history with at least 10 TB in his major league debut, after Mark Quinn in 1999. Finally, he became only the 8th player to be one hit shy of the cycle, and the 6th to be a triple shy of the cycle (2 other players were a home run short of the cycle).

To wrap up, in all major league debuts he became the first Blue Jay and 15th player ever to get at least 4 hits, first Blue Jay and only 4th player ever to hit at least 2 HRs, and had the most total bases ever in a major league debut. I believe that without question it was the best debut for any Blue Jay hitter ever, as well as either the best or at least top 5 best debuts for any hitter ever. So when you were watching the game, or watching the highlights afterward, you may have believed that what he was doing was special, but the statistics show just how special his debut really was.