The Blue Jays placed catcher/designated hitter Alejandro Kirk on the 10-day injured list in advance of tonight’s game in Miami. He’s dealing with a laceration on his left hand. Toronto also optioned Bowden Francis to Triple-A Buffalo, recalling reliever Trent Thornton and backstop Tyler Heineman to take the active roster spots.
Kirk took a Jon Gray fastball off his hand during yesterday’s loss to the Rangers. He came out of the game, with Danny Jansen hopping in behind the plate. While postgame x-rays fortunately didn’t reveal any fractures, Kirk will still need at least a week and a half to recuperate. It halts what has been an uncharacteristically middling offensive season for the right-handed hitter. Kirk is hitting .253/.337/.331 over 202 trips to the plate.
He started the season well, putting up a .274/.418/.387 line through the end of April. Over the past month and a half, he’s managed only a .241/.285/.302 showing. Jansen, who’ll get the bulk of the catching reps while Kirk is out, has been on an opposite trajectory. He had a .179/.246/.375 slash through the season’s first month-plus but has found his power stroke with a .235/.286/.506 mark going back to May 1.
Heineman is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. He’ll get the nod as Jansen’s backup for now. He’s made six MLB appearances since Toronto acquired him from the Pirates at the end of April.
Very strange season for Kirk so far this year. Only 8 extra base hits in 178 ABs; that’s well below his expected output. It seems like something has been bothering him all season and he can’t drive the ball like he used to. He could certainly afford to lose a few pounds too but I don’t think it’s his ‘dad body’ that is causing his ineffectiveness. Maybe a 10+ day rest is what he needs right now.
@Dorothy_Mantooth
This is pretty much a continuation of what he did in the second half of last year.
Yeah not sure if varsho was worth Mareno. He’s having a decent rookie season
He drives the ball straight into the dirt in front of home plate. Like Vladdy, launch angle is the issue.
That’s the second player a Rangers pitcher has knocked out in a week.
Jays have been trash this season. The core they have just isn’t working. Time for a fire sale at the deadline.
Half a game out of a wild card spot and over half a season to play lol people will say anything
Vlad is overrated. He’s struggles to get on base.
I’m not 100% convinced that Vlad’s not playing through an injury. He was hitting quite well through the first week of May – he had a .920 OPS as of May 5, then injured his hand in a game in Pittsburgh and sat out for the next 3 or 4 days. He came back on May 9, but his performance immediately and dramatically declined from that point on, with his power completely disappearing since then. I don’t think that’s a coincidence…
Ironically his defense was taking the opposite path. He had some less than average defensive numbers earlier in the year but of late has gradually move most of those back into the top 20, top 10 for some of those.
Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, Jansen’s defensive numbers went the opposite of Kirks Jansen started with stronger than normal (for him) numbers (some in top 20 and others in top 30) but has slipped greatly over the last month plus, pushing a lot of his defensive numbers way back even out of the top 30. Hopefully with his injury now behind him and more playing time he can improve his trade value going into the trade deadline.
Hopefully it wasn’t his fork hand that was hurt. It would be a real shame if his caloric consumption suffered.
Uncharacteristic? Dude has one season under his belt and is a lumpy bridge troll. We don’t know what “characteristic” is for him yet. This may be who he is. Last year was probably the anomaly.
In the offseason I was praying they would move Kirk instead of Moreno. Sell while Kirk’s value was high coming off a as season. He sucked in the 2md half last season and it’s only continued so far this year. He is slow, out of shape and last season was his cieling.
It’s June 2023 and Tanner Scott still sucks. Not as bad as Anthony Bass sucks…but still sucks.