Blue Jays Catcher Alejandro Kirk Shows Excellent Improvement in Key Area Defensively
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The Toronto Blue Jays need all the help they can get on the field to help push the team out of the middle-of-the-pack in the MLB.
injuries have decimated the team, with pitcher Jake Bloss suffering an elbow injury and Max Scherzer having a minor setback in his rehab most recently.
One of the players who is doing their part in elevating their performance in a facet of the game is catcher Alejandro Kirk.
An All-Star and Silver Slugger Award winner in 2022, he has not been able to replicate that level of success at the plate in the years since. He had a career-high .786 OPS and 127 OPS+ that season with 14 home runs and 63 RBI.
This year, his OPS is .682, which would be the second lowest mark in a single season of his career, with a 93 OPS+, which would tie for the second lowest.
With their offense struggling to consistently produce, the Blue Jays would love for Kirk to regain the form he showed in 2022 with his bat.
But, at least he is finding a way to make an impact elsewhere, showing incredible improvement behind the plate defensively.
What Improvements Has Alejandro Kirk Made Defensively?
When the MLB changed some of the rules for pitchers throwing over to first base and expanded the size of the bases themselves, Kirk saw his caught stealing percentage drop well below the league average to 18.1%.
It was the second time in three seasons that he had been below average in that statistic, which led to him incorporating arm and accuracy training into his workouts in 2023.
The results have been fantastic, with the extra work paying dividends.
Krik is currently throwing out 32% of base runners attempting to steal a base, which would be a career-high. He also leads the American League with eight caught stealing.
In addition to his improvements in gunning down base runners, he remains stellar with pitch framing as well. His +5 Fielding Run Value is in the 97th percentile, as shared by Baseball Savant.
Defense remains the most valuable part of his game, with Kirk looking to prove the five-year, $58 million extension he signed was a worthwhile investment for the franchise.
