Blue Jays bet on Kirk with 5-year extension
The Toronto Blue Jays signed a core piece to a contract extension - it just wasn't the player fans have been clamoring for all offseason.
Catcher Alejandro Kirk and the Blue Jays reportedly agreed to a five-year, $58-million extension. The deal carries an average annual value of $11.6 million, putting Kirk comfortably inside the top 10 in salary among major-league catchers. It'll take Kirk through his age-31 campaign, meaning Toronto is committed to the 26-year-old as the undisputed catcher of the future.
This is only the third contract extension for a Blue Jays player since Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins took control of the front office ahead of the 2016 season. Kirk joins Randal Grichuk (five years, $52 million) and José Berríos (seven years, $131 million) as players the Blue Jays have re-upped during that span.
Kirk's development path has been interesting. Many expected him to be a bat-first catcher with some question marks around his defensive value. He fulfilled that offensive upside in 2022, posting a 129 wRC+ with 14 home runs, 19 doubles, and a .786 OPS, en route to earning the first and only All-Star nod of his career. Kirk's 4.3 fWAR that season tied him for fourth among MLB catchers as he put himself on the map as one of the game's elite backstops at 23 years old.
Kirk's breakout season clearly made the front office feel comfortable - so comfortable that they traded top catching prospect Gabriel Moreno to Arizona as part of the Daulton Varsho deal. But Kirk hasn't been able to mimic that 2022 season at the plate, posting a 96 wRC+ in 2023 and a 94 wRC+ last season. A nearly 48% ground-ball rate, combined with his lack of speed, makes him a prime double-play candidate. Despite that, Kirk doesn't strike out much and ranks second among all catchers with an 86.8% contact rate since the start of the 2022 season. He's been a top-10 catcher in a number of key offensive categories since becoming a full-time player.
The most encouraging aspect of Kirk's development has been his growth defensively. He ranked in the 32nd percentile in Baseball Savant's framing statistic in 2021 but rose to the 95th, 80th, and 93rd percentile over the past three seasons. Kirk's calm demeanor behind the plate has been a constant for Blue Jays pitchers during that time. The ability to frame pitches and steal strikes is a huge skill to have for however long Major League Baseball holds off on implementing a challenge system for balls and strikes. He also made huge strides throwing out runners in 2024, ranking in the 97th percentile in runners caught stealing above average after finishing in the 59th and 53rd percentile the previous two seasons.
There's always an element of risk when signing a player to a long-term deal. This contract won't look as good if Kirk continues to hover around the league average at the plate. An .819 OPS with a pair of home runs and only five strikeouts in 43 at-bats this spring is an encouraging development as he looks to recapture the form he showed at the plate in 2022. However, Kirk's baseline looks like a two-win player: He amassed 2.8 fWAR last season and 2.3 fWAR in 2023. If he can put up multiple campaigns of at least three wins with better production at the plate, the Blue Jays will be thrilled and the five-year commitment will look like a deft piece of business.
With Kirk signed, Blue Jays fans will return their focus to another homegrown player in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and whether or not he'll get a contract extension before the season starts Thursday against the Baltimore Orioles. The clock is ticking.