Alejandro Kirk ranks among the top five catchers in MLB

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 Alejandro Kirk's work behind the plate.

And that excellent campaign has now earned him the honor of being ranked among the top five catchers in all of Major League Baseball, moving up three spots from his eighth-place ranking in 2025 to the top 10 on MLB.com. Only Cal Raleigh, William Contreras, Will Smith, and Drake Baldwin rank ahead of the Blue Jays' masked man.

Here is how The Shredder lined up the #Top10RightNow behind the plate! pic.twitter.com/QC0lc3jHJF

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) February 3, 2026

Having played 130 games last season, Kirk set a new career high for home runs with 15, produced a personal best 76 runs batted in, while posting a .282 batting average with an OPS of .769. 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 batted .252, hit five home runs, and drove in 13 runs in 18 games during his team's run last October.

But it's not the offensive side of the ball that stands out most in the 27-year-old's game, but rather his defensive abilities. In fact, he had the best above-average block rate among all MLB catchers, in addition to ranking in the 98th percentile in framing.

With a salary of only $8.7 million in 2026, the Jays have a Black Friday bargain on their hands that they will sorely need in their quest to repeat last year's exploits and finally win the big trophy.

This content was created with the help of AI.