Alexander Kirk Finds His Stroke After Mid-Season Surge
By trading Danny Jansen at the 2024 trade deadline, it signalled that the Toronto Blue Jays were ready to proceed with Alejandro Kirk as the catcher of the future.
Kirk broke onto the scene in 2021, hitting eight home runs in 189 plate appearances for a 106 wRC+. He won the Silver Slugger award for American League catchers in 2022, slashing .285/.372/.415 with 14 home runs in 541 plate appearances, along with a higher BB% (11.6%) than K% (10.7%).
However, his bat hasn’t been nearly as good the past two seasons, as the Mexican catcher slashed .250/.334/.358 with eight home runs in 422 plate appearances for a 96 wRC+ while finishing as a nominee for the Gold Glove for AL catchers in 2023. That begs the question, how did Kirk fare in 2024?
Alejandro Kirk in 2024…
Plate Appearances: 386
Batting Average: .253
On-Base Percentage: .319
Slugging Percentage: .359
Home Runs: 5
Strikeouts: 51
Walks: 35
Fangraphs WAR: 2.8
Salary: $2.8 million
For the season, Alejandro Kirk slashed .253/.319/.359 with five home runs in 386 plate appearances, finishing with a career-worst 9.1 BB% and 13.2 K% giving him a 2.8 fWAR for the season. However, when you look at his season stats closely, you can see a horrendous start sunk his season.
From March 28 until April 12, Kirk slashed .133/.200/.133 in 50 plate appearances, with all six of his hits being singles to give him a -2 wRC+. For context, Kirk was an above-average hitter after those 50 plate appearances, slashing .271/.336/.393 with five home runs in 336 plate appearances from April 14 until the end of the season.
After the Jansen trade on July 27, Kirk’s play was the closest he’s had to that 2022 season. From July 27 until the end of the year, he slashed .288/.349/.418 with three of his five home runs coming in the span, as well as 11 of 19 doubles. This included a lengthy 18-game hitting streak.
It just goes to show you that sometimes, a poor start is incredibly hard to overcome. With that being said, Kirk will start the majority of the games for next season, and hopefully, he can continue the form he had to end the season.
Of course, that’s ignoring what he’s best at, defence. Last season, Kirk’s 14 Defensive Runs Saved was the fourth-highest in the league, while his Fielding Run Value of 15 was second in the league in the 766 innings he caught behind the plate.
Over the past three seasons, Kirk has truly become one of the best defensive catchers in the league, posting a league-high 40 DRS, as well as a 35 FRV, third in the league the past three seasons for catchers. Kirk is also improving each season, raising his caught stealing percentage from 18% in 2023 to 33% in 2024, the fourth-highest percentage in the league for qualified catchers.
According to MLB Trade Rumors, Alejandro Kirk is projected to make $4.1 million in arbitration this off-season, his second arbitration year. It was recently reported by The Athletic’s Kaitlyn McGrath that the Blue Jays organization is comfortable with a Kirk and Tyler Heineman tandem, noting that they won’t look heavily into adding a catcher this off-season.
Reading between the lines, that means that Kirk will catch most games and the Blue Jays believe in him. Hopefully, Kirk can have the defensive success he had last season while hitting the way he did in 2022.
