When Alejandro Kirk left with a thumb injury early into the season, Blue Jays fans were quick to assume the worst – and with good reason. Kirk is one of the key cogs of the Jays’ machine, and losing him for an extended period of time was going to test the Jays’ catching depth in the farm system.

Premium talent behind the dish doesn’t come around often, and at one point, the Jays had a plethora of arms to choose from. The front office whittled that down over the years to bolster other areas of the roster and put their faith in Kirk, which has produced solid results since he was given the keys to the starting role.

With Kirk on the sidelines, the organization turned to the next backstop in line, switch-hitting Mexican product Brandon Valenzuela. 

Manager John Schneider did have Tyler Heineman to lean on, who was a solid option for Toronto last season, but the veteran was struggling to find a groove with Kirk on the sidelines. This opened the door for Valenzuela to get some meaningful playing time, and the Jays were giving him ample opportunities to do so.

The 25-year-old didn’t get off to the hottest start – through 15 games in April, he posted a .200/.238/.350 slash line with a .588 OPS across 40 at-bats. He mustered eight hits – including two home runs and three RBIs – but wasn’t putting a ton of power into the ball. The defensive skills were there, but overall, he amassed a 0.2 fWAR, ranking 24th amongst all big league catchers with 40+ plate appearances through April.

Fast forward to May, and things have turned in a positive direction for Valenzuela. 

For the month, Valenzuela produced a +1.0 fWAR, tied for first alongside Kiebert Ruiz (Nationals) and Dillon Dingler (Tigers). On top of the impressive fWAR numbers, Valenzuela has produced a .276/.400/.431 slash line with a .831 OPS. He added three doubles, two home runs, and seven RBIs to his tally for May and has walked more than he has struck out this month (12 vs. 11). This comes with a 141 wRC+ and a .376 wOBA with a 16.9% walk rate, ranking only behind Mitch Garver for catchers through May.

Comparison-wise, Valenzuela produced a 3.7 offensive mark and a 3.4 defensive mark per FanGraphs metrics, ranking in the top ten.

Expanding back to the start of the season, Valenzuela ranks eighth amongst big leaguers in total fWAR (1.2) despite having fewer games and plate appearances than all names ahead of him. Valenzuela also owns a .245/.339/.398 slash line with a .737 OPS with four home runs and 10 RBIs. Among Jays players with 10+ games, Valenzuela ranks fourth in OBP, fifth on the team in OPS, and seventh in home runs.

Defensively, he’s produced a +6 fielding run value, ranking in the 96th percentile. A lot of this can be attributed to his plus framing, ranking in the 98th percentile with a stellar +4 mark, but Valenzuela also ranks well in terms of caught stealing (88th percentile / +3) and pop-time (82nd percentile / 1.90 seconds). He boasts a .979 fielding percentage while throwing out 24% of base stealers.

Overall, the early returns from having Valenzuela behind the plate have paid dividends for the Jays. Flipping Will Wagner at the trade deadline last year for the backstop was great insurance for this exact scenario with Kirk landing on the IL, and with the fan favourite working his way back to the big leagues, the Jays coaching staff will be left with an important decision in the coming weeks when it comes to keeping Valenzuela vs. Heineman moving forward.

Business-wise, Valenzuela has the minor league option while Heineman doesn’t, so that could factor into the roster decision. Giving him some everyday playing time may also play into the decision, as Kirk would command most of the playing time, leaving either Heineman or Valenzuela on the bench for one or two starts through every five days. If the Jays want to prioritize giving the younger backstop more reps, then sending him to Buffalo would be the play.

However, if the staff are going to do an ‘apples to apples’ comparison, Valenzuela has been the better backstop from an impact perspective, and if the Jays are all-in on ‘win now’, he should be kept on the big league roster. Valenzuela might see a decrease in his playing time, but that’s his likely role moving forward and the fact that he is a switch-hitter with plus defensive metrics (like Heineman) is a bonus.

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