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Blue Jays: Breaking down Alejandro Kirk’s offensive struggles
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Photo credit: © Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Ben Wrixon
Jul 3, 2026, 16:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 3, 2026, 14:46 EDT
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Few players were more integral to the success of the 2025 Toronto Blue Jays than starting catcher Alejandro Kirk. 
He hit .282 with 15 home runs while playing exceptional defence to earn his second All-Star appearance. He also excelled as a game-caller behind the plate, getting the most out of a patchwork pitching staff. 
This is why the Blue Jays and their fans were devastated when Kirk broke his thumb in early April, right as the 2026 season was getting underway. Two months without him seemed like a scary proposition. Fortunately, the emergence of Brandon Valenzuela helped weather the storm—the losses on the pitching side that have hurt more. 
What’s concerning now, however, is that Kirk simply hasn’t looked like the same player he was last year since returning from that broken thumb. Is it right to be worried? 
Kirk entered Friday with a disappointing .212/.274/.333 slash line across his 73 plate appearances. It’s too small a sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions yet, but it hasn’t been pretty. Four of his 14 hits have gone for extra bases. 
Things are even more worrisome under the hood. Kirk has experienced a massive decline in every meaningful offensive metric, including xWOBA, average exit velocity, barrel rate, and hard-hit percentage. His Baseball Savant page is bluer than his jersey. 
One metric that really stands out is Kirk’s decrease in bat speed compared to 2025. He’s gone from a middle-of-the-pack 72.5 mph last year down to 70.4 mph, which grades as well below average. It’s right in line with where he was in 2024 when he had a .678 OPS.
Kirk’s thumb may be limiting his ability to truly grip and rip the bat. It’s also possible that he hasn’t fully regained the conditioning necessary to unleash max-effort swings after an extended injury layoff. Perhaps it is a combination of both. 
Nonetheless, this decline in bat speed and associated regression in his quality of contact is legitimately concerning. This isn’t a situation where he’s been hitting the ball hard and getting unlucky—he’s largely deserved the poor results he’s gotten so far. 
Kirk also hasn’t helped himself by chasing and whiffing more compared to last year. His walk rate is down, too. His approach just hasn’t been as locked in as it was in 2025, and that could be a result of him pressing like many of his teammates.
Defensively, Kirk still grades as an excellent blocker and pitch framer. He’s as sure-handed as they come behind the plate. He’s struggled to throw runners out, however, as his pop time has decreased. This could also be related to his conditioning after a long layoff. 
The long and the short of it is that there are genuine reasons to be worried about Kirk right now. The numbers back up the eye test in that he hasn’t looked right. The Blue Jays need him to be his All-Star self again if they’re going to make a push for the playoffs in the second half.

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