Alejandro Kirk makes winning plays behind the dish. This ball has to get blocked to keep the Jays in the lead and he does just that. Special defender.
An in-depth look at the Blue Jays options behind the plate in 2025
Photo credit: © Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images
Jan 29, 2025, 09:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 29, 2025, 07:01 EST
The Toronto Blue Jays catching situation is in a unique spot. When the team traded Danny Jansen at the 2024 trade deadline, they put their full confidence in Alejandro Kirk to play more games behind the plate – leaving behind the tandem that Jays fans have been used to seeing at the big league level.
Once Jansen was traded, Brian Serven was recalled from triple-A to back up Kirk down the stretch but the Jays brought back Tyler Heineman via waivers in mid-September, a familiar face to the organization that saw Serven outrighted off the roster. Heading into 2025, Heineman appears to be the backup catcher on the roster, holding a respectable defensive catcher holding a career-positive DRS and TZ, but a subpar .212/.298/.273 career slash line through 111 games.
Kirk’s career .264/.344/.391 slash line looks way more desirable, even if it has trailed off in recent years. As well as Kirk’s top-notch defense puts him on top of the depth charts and he will be leaned on for most of the catching duties this year. Unfortunately, catching is a tough job, and not one that can be held down by a single player for 162 games in the year.
Alejandro Kirk will be the Blue Jays go-to catching option in 2025
Even Cal Raleigh, who won the 2024 American League Gold Glove at catcher and led all of MLB in defensive innings played at the position, played 135 games behind the dish. That’s 27 games in which the Seattle Mariners couldn’t play a Gold Glove winner solely because catching is too strenuous to not have rest days at DH or on the bench.
Kirk made just 93 appearances as a signal caller in 2024. It’s a number that will be expected to increase come 2025 to keep the offensive production from that spot high. The problem is that Kirk has never hit the 100 games played total in a single season in the field as a catcher, with a career-high 99 in 2023 appearances due to an injury to Jansen, forcing the Jays to play Kirk more. It seems like a similar scenario will unfold in 2025, but not because of injury and more to do with who is joining Kirk on the roster.
It’s an area of concern that has seemed lower in priority for the team – as it should be – given the numerous areas the front office needs to address this winter (and some already have been). Other problem areas such as power hitting or adding an additional starter have taken the spotlight away from this (in comparison) smaller-catching fiasco.
That means that the team will have to get a little more creative with what they already have.
An earlier move this offseason to bring in some depth was signing former Miami Marlin Ali Sánchez to a minor league deal and a Spring Training invite, as well as a recent addition Christian Bethancourt to the team on a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training as well.
Expect the backup job to be contested tightly between Bethancourt and Heineman, although Sánchez could earn some playing time with a good spring showing. Projections expect Bethancourt to be the better hitter with Steamer having him at a .232/.271/.382 slash, with Sánchez slotting in at .223/.285/.334, and Heineman at a .211/.297/.301 slash line.
What makes Bethancourt so interesting in this competition is his potential defensive value. While Kirk has a great ability to turn balls into strikes with his 93rd-percentile framing, Bethancourt’s pride behind the plate is his ability to throw out potential base stealers.
OFFICIAL: We’ve signed C Christian Bethancourt and LHP Richard Lovelady to Minor League deals with invites to #SpringTraining.
It’s an area that Kirk has admittedly gotten better at (he was 95th percentile in the league at throwing out runners in 2024, but only 40th percentile in 2023), but his pop time still leaves much to be desired as it was in the 20th percentile of all catchers last season. Bethancourt on the other hand has had an 85th or higher percentile pop time and caught stealing rate since 2022. That cannon comes at the cost of a 45th percentile or lower framing and blocks above average through all of those seasons. Sánchez brings an 86th percentile blocks above the average mark to the table with a middle-of-the-road pop-time and a career 26.5% caught stealing rate, although through a much smaller sample size compared to the other two candidates.
Should Bethancourt win the backup job over Heineman and Sánchez this spring, it would make for an interesting defensive dynamic. If the Jays face a methodical team at the plate, they have Kirk to turn close pitches into strikes. If it’s an aggressive and speedy team they’re up against, they could put Bethancourt in an attempt to cut down the running game.
No matter who does win the backup job, remember that Kirk will get as many starts at catcher as he can handle. He’s proven himself to be a solid offensive and defensive catcher and the Jays DH spot is precious as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Anthony Santander, and George Springer will likely all want games there.
Still, keep a close eye on the trio this Spring. The backup catcher spot is more open for the taking than it has been in quite some time.
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