If the Toronto Blue Jays were able to reach the World Series for the first time since 1993 last year, it was in part thanks to the work of Alejandro Kirk behind the plate.
And this excellent campaign now earns him the honor of being part of the top-5 best catchers in all of major baseball, having seen his eighth rank of 2025 move up three places in MLB.com top-10. Only Cal Raleigh, William Contreras, Will Smith and Drake Baldwin are ahead of the masked man of the Blue Jays.
Having played in 130 games this past season, Kirk set a new career-high for home runs with 15, drove in a career-high 76 runs, while posting a .282 batting average with a .769 OPS. In addition, Captain Kirk was rarely struck out, drew his share of walks and put the ball in play more often than not.
In the playoffs, Kirk had a batting average of .252 in addition to hitting five long balls and producing thirteen runs in 18 games during his team’s run last October.
But it’s not the offensive side of the ball that stands out the most in the 27-year-old’s game, but rather his defensive abilities. Indeed, he had the best above-average block rate of any catcher in MLB, in addition to ranking in the 98th percentile in terms of framing.
Commanding a salary of just $8.7 million in 2026, the Jays have a much-needed Black Friday bargain on hand in their quest to repeat their exploits from last year and finally win the big trophy.
