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Better Know Your Blue Jays 40-man: Alejandro Kirk

By Tom Dakers
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Toronto Blue Jays Photo Day Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images

I skipped Alejandro Kirk, somehow.

Kirk is a right-handed hitting catcher. Or a right-handed hitting hitter. He is 23 now.

Back in 2020, Kirk was #8 on our top prospects list. Matt wrote:

If he sticks behind the plate, he’s a potential impact regular with potentially a big bat. Even if he doesn’t stick, he may well hit enough to still be a regular even at the far end of the defensive spectrum. A possible comp in terms of career arc could be Carlos Santana, who came up a catcher, split time there early in his career and then became a bat-only player. Santana of course is a great hitter, but Kirk’s production and profile look great, and even ending up a poor man’s Santana would be a great outcome.

Kirk got a handful of at-bats in 2020. And then got into 60 games last year, hitting .242/.328/.436 with 8 home runs. Unfortunately, he missed a lot of the season with a hip flexor issue.

All he does is hit. So far this spring, he’s hitting .625/.700/1.125 (before Friday’s game). I know that everyone is looking for him to be traded, but I don’t want to give up on that bat.

But I don’t mind his defense all that much. Robbie Ray seemed okay with throwing to him, and he won a Cy Young. Kirk threw out 19% of base stealers, slightly worse than the league average of 23%. He had 2 passed balls and 18 wild pitches.

I still think putting Reese McGuire on the roster over Kirk would be malpractice. But I guess they could carry three catchers on the roster for the first month of the season when they can have 28 on the roster.

I could see him and Greg Bird sharing the DH job, but then I could see Kirk being semi-fulltime DH, catching occasionally and sitting when one of the regulars needs a half-day off.

PECOTA figures that he plays 93 games, hitting .267/.348/.432 with 10 home runs.

Last year we packed how many games kirk would play, and 64% of us got it right, 60-80.

Let’s do the same question:

Poll

I think Kirk will play ______ MLB games this year

This poll is closed

  • 5%
    Less than 50
    (28 votes)
  • 34%
    50-80
    (187 votes)
  • 54%
    81-120
    (297 votes)
  • 6%
    More than 121
    (37 votes)
549 votes total Vote Now

Poll

If the over/under on Kirk’s major leagues OPS is .780 I’d take the

This poll is closed

  • 80%
    Over
    (359 votes)
  • 19%
    Under
    (85 votes)
444 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Kirk will get most of his 2022 playing time with

This poll is closed

  • 85%
    The Blue Jays
    (410 votes)
  • 3%
    The Bisons
    (18 votes)
  • 10%
    Someone else (he’ll be traded)
    (50 votes)
478 votes total Vote Now

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