Alejandro Kirk

Alejandro Kirk

24-Year-Old CatcherC
Toronto Blue Jays
2023 Fantasy Outlook
Kirk was one of the league's top hitting catchers as his 129 wRC+ was highest among the five backstops with at least 500 plate appearances. His plate skills remained excellent, with a 50% groundball rate supporting an increased BABIP. Kirk's exit velocity on fly balls increased, indicating his patience allowed turning on pitches he can drive, so while his power fell, it wasn't commensurate with the increase in grounders. Lost in Kirk's exploits at the plate were his improvements behind it. Kirk's defense improved significantly, specifically with regards to framing, but he also caught 26% of base stealers as opposed to 19% the prior campaign. Still just 24 years old, Kirk can easily regain some of the loft on batted balls, increasing power. Even with the uptick in defense, Kirk will often serve as designated hitter, so he should again combine quality and quantity into a top-10 fantasy backstop. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
#99
ADP
$Signed a contract with the Blue Jays in September of 2016.
Returns to lineup Wednesday
CToronto Blue Jays
March 22, 2023
Kirk (illness) is starting behind the plate and batting fifth in Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Orioles.
ANALYSIS
The 24-year-old was scratched from Sunday's lineup due to a non-COVID-related illness, but he'll return to action Wednesday after a couple days of rest. Kirk remains on track to work behind the plate for Toronto on Opening Day next week.
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Batting Stats
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2022
2021
2020
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2021 MLB Game Log
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2020 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
20
43
8
14
5
5
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
6
13
3
5
1
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+7%
OPS vs LHP
2022
 
 
+7%
OPS vs RHP
2021
 
 
+49%
OPS vs LHP
2020
 
 
+58%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020vs Left .837 170 20 7 20 0 .293 .371 .467
Since 2020vs Right .782 579 62 16 70 0 .276 .363 .419
2022vs Left .747 109 12 3 9 0 .276 .349 .398
2022vs Right .797 432 47 11 54 0 .288 .377 .419
2021vs Left .988 60 8 4 11 0 .314 .400 .588
2021vs Right .663 129 11 4 13 0 .211 .295 .368
2020vs Left 2.000 1 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000
2020vs Right 1.265 18 4 1 3 0 .471 .500 .765
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Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+4%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+6%
OPS on Road
2021
 
 
+16%
OPS at Home
2020
 
 
+342%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020Home .806 351 44 13 46 0 .265 .359 .447
Since 2020Away .773 404 38 10 44 0 .289 .364 .409
2022Home .763 243 26 8 30 0 .250 .354 .409
2022Away .806 298 33 6 33 0 .313 .386 .420
2021Home .825 90 14 4 13 0 .260 .344 .481
2021Away .711 99 5 4 11 0 .227 .313 .398
2020Home 1.265 18 4 1 3 0 .471 .500 .765
2020Away .286 7 0 0 0 0 .143 .143 .143
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Stat Review
How does Alejandro Kirk compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
1.09
 
BB Rate
11.6%
 
K Rate
10.7%
 
BABIP
.299
 
ISO
.130
 
AVG
.285
 
OBP
.372
 
SLG
.415
 
OPS
.786
 
wOBA
.350
 
Exit Velocity
90.5 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
37.3%
 
Barrels/PA
5.2%
 
Expected BA
.278
 
Expected SLG
.431
 
Sprint Speed
20.7 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
50.0%
 
Line Drive %
19.2%
 
Fly Ball %
30.8%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2022
2021
Kirk is the type of player that is often overlooked as he is a bowling ball at 5-foot-8, 265 pounds. He's given the fantasy community reason to be excited about his bat, however, posting above-average slash lines in his two MLB seasons so far. His 2021 wasn't nearly as good as his short run in 2020 (165 wRC+), but Kirk still managed eight homers while striking out a mere 22 times in 189 plate appearances (11.6%). He missed multiple months with a left hip flexor strain, spent some time in the minors and didn't end on a particularly strong note, batting .200 over the final month of the season. Meanwhile, Danny Jansen exploded for a .310/.365/.707 line over the final month, creating some questions about Kirk's role behind the dish to begin 2022. Kirk's framing didn't grade out well last year and the Blue Jays have another exciting catcher in the pipeline in Gabriel Moreno, but Kirk already showed at ages 21 and 22 that he can easily clear the low offensive bar at the position.
Whoever is reading this might look more like a pro athlete than Kirk does, but he's the one who jumped over Double-A and Triple-A and hit .375 in his first 25 MLB plate appearances as a 21-year-old. The 5-foot-9, 220-pound backstop's innate bat-to-ball ability is what allowed him to ascend so rapidly through the minors. Toronto might also be viewing this as his athletic prime, as he really can't afford to lose what little agility he still possesses. There are obviously questions about his defense behind the dish, but so far he has proved adequate enough to at least work in a timeshare. Additionally, Kirk has enough power to bang out double-digit home runs in a full season. He will be competing with Danny Jansen and Reese McGuire this spring. Toronto could send him to Triple-A for a bit more seasoning, but he's a solid bet to be a good fantasy catcher if and when he plays.
More Fantasy News
Goes through full workout
CToronto Blue Jays
Illness
March 20, 2023
Kirk (illness) went through a full workout Monday, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca reports.
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Scratched with illness
CToronto Blue Jays
Illness
March 19, 2023
Kirk was scratched from Sunday's Grapefruit League lineup against the Rays due to a non-COVID-19 illness.
ANALYSIS
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Making spring debut Monday
CToronto Blue Jays
March 13, 2023
Kirk (personal) will start at catcher and bat third in Monday's Grapefruit League game against the Red Sox.
ANALYSIS
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Could get in game by Sunday
CToronto Blue Jays
Personal
March 10, 2023
Kirk (personal) could make his Grapefruit League debut as soon as Sunday or Monday, Hazel Mae of Sportsnet reports.
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Expected in games next week
CToronto Blue Jays
Personal
March 2, 2023
Kirk (personal) arrived to Blue Jays camp Thursday and is expected to be ready for game action during the second half of next week, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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