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Brandon Valenzuela was called up as an injury replacement for Alejandro Kirk and stuck around all season
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Photo credit: © Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Cynthia Ryley Delaney
Oct 28, 2026, 19:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 28, 2026, 08:04 EDT
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The Toronto Blue Jays may have found their catching duo for the foreseeable future.
When Alejandro Kirk went down with an injury early in the season, the Blue Jays had no other choice than to call up Brandon Valenzuela, a defensively sound catcher they acquired ahead of the 2025 trade deadline. Fast forward a few months, and he’s up for the American League Gold Glove award behind the plate.
Let’s take a look at how his season went.

Brandon Valenzuela’s 2026 season

On trade deadline day 2025, the Blue Jays sent Will Wagner to the San Diego Padres for Valenzuela. At that point, the switch hitter catcher had limited experience in Triple-A, appearing in just 27 games at the level.
Still, it was pretty clear he was being prepped as the team’s backup catcher of the future. That future arrived sooner rather than later when Kirk suffered a thumb injury in the fourth game of the season. Already on the 40-man roster, Valenzuela got the call. He never went back down.
The 26-year-old outplayed Tyler Heineman for the everyday role while Kirk was injured. From his call-up until Kirk’s return, Valenzuela was a well above league average hitter, slashing .252/.333/.457 with seven home runs in 145 plate appearances, good for a 122 wRC+.
Upon Kirk’s return, the Blue Jays elected to designate Heineman for assignment, sticking with Valenzuela as the backup catcher for the remainder of the 2026 season.
With limited playing time, Valenzuela’s numbers took a major dip, slashing just .188/.278/.277 in his final 126 plate appearances from June 13th until the end of the season. He also hit just two home runs, one in July and the other in the Blue Jays’ final game of the season. The lack of playing time didn’t help, but he was always going to regress to the mean.
Having a backup catcher who can hit is a luxury. At the end of the day, you just want that catcher to be good defensively. Kirk’s absence behind the plate was diminished thanks to Valenzuela’s defensive abilities.
In 618.2 innings behind the plate, Valenzuela posted 9 Defensive Runs Saved and 13 Fielding Run Value. He was a top framer in the league, which was paired with a cannon of an arm. Of the 63 would-be base stealers, Valenzuela was able to throw out 19 of them.
He was so good in fact, that Valenzuela was nominated for the Gold Glove behind the plate. While it’ll likely go to Dillon Dingler for a second consecutive season (Kirk should have won in 2025), Valenzuela did more than enough to secure the backup job in 2027 and beyond.
Cynthia Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, DFOEdmonton, and DFOCalgary. She can be followed on Twitter @CynthiaRDelaney.
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