Blue Jays: How Alejandro Kirk stacks up against other nominees for Gold Glove
Photo credit: © Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Oct 19, 2025, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 19, 2025, 10:08 EDT
For the second time in his career, Alejandro Kirk has been nominated for the American League Gold Glove at the catcher position.
Joining the Toronto Blue Jays’ catcher as a nominee are Dillon Dingler of the Detroit Tigers and Carlos Narváez of the Boston Red Sox. Kirk was last nominated for the Gold Glove in 2023, where he fell short of winning the award.
Although he’s never won the Gold Glove for the position, Kirk has been one of, if not the best, defensive catchers in the league. That said, let’s see how Kirk did defensively compared to Dingler and Narváez.
Alejandro Kirk
When the Gold Gloves are announced, Kirk has to have his name announced. Among qualified catchers, Kirk’s 9 Defensive Runs Saved ranked tied for third, while his 22 Fielding Run Value ranked second, only behind Patrick Bailey.
Bailey was the best framer in baseball, finishing with 25 Catcher Framing Runs, but Kirk finished second with 16 CFR, five ahead of Austin Wells and Austin Hedges. Kirk was by far the best blocker, finishing with 21 blocks above average, seven more than the next-best player, former Blue Jay Danny Jansen.
As for throwing, Kirk had a strong start to the season but ended up with 0 Catcher’s CS Above Average, tied for 28th in the league and throwing out 17% of would-be-base-stealers. This is where Dingler and Narváez have an advantage over Kirk, but more on that later.
One knock on Kirk the past three seasons is that he hasn’t caught enough innings, averaging around 770 the past two years, as well as 654 innings in 2022. That argument cannot be made in 2025, as his 965.1 innings caught is top 10 in the league.
Simply put, Kirk is due. In 2022, Kirk finished with 9 DRS (tied for sixth-best) and 11 FRV (seventh-best). Should he have been nominated? Probably not, as he caught just 654 innings and was behind Jose Trevino, Adley Rutschman, Cal Raleigh, and Christian Vázquez in the American League.
Kirk should have won his first Gold Glove in 2023. His 17 DRS ranked second-best in Major League Baseball, only behind former Blue Jay Gabriel Moreno (who won the award for National League catchers). Kirk’s FRV ranked tied for fifth-best, with only two American League catchers ranking ahead of him. The Blue Jays’ catcher caught 775 innings and was nominated, but didn’t win.
Last season, Kirk shockingly wasn’t even nominated for the award, finishing with 13 DRS (tied for fourth) and 17 FRV (second-best). He caught 766 innings, had 7 Catcher’s CS Above Average, was an above-average blocker, and was a top framer.
Since the beginning of the 2022 season, Kirk’s 48 DRS and 60 FRV rank second, only behind Bailey in both categories. His 43 Catcher Framing Runs rank second (behind you guessed it, Bailey), he’s the best blocker in that span with 50 Blocks Above Average, and his 8 Catcher’s CS Above Average ranks tied for 8th.
The only catcher who’s better defensively than Kirk is Bailey, and he plays for the National League’s San Francisco Giants. But let’s take a look at how Dingler and Narváez stack up.
Dingler and Narváez
Starting with Narváez, the Red Sox catcher is one of just two qualified catchers with a higher DRS than Kirk, you know the other one. In 952 innings caught, Narvárez has 10 DRS, but is far behind Kirk’s 22 FRV, as Narvárez finished with 9 FRV.
Narvárez is an above-average blocker, but his 6 Blocks Above Average ranks ninth, ironically tied with Blue Jays’ catcher Tyler Heineman (who had 10 DRS but wasn’t qualified). He’s an above-average framer, but not one of the best like Kirk, as the Red Sox catcher finished with 5 Catcher Framing Runs.
That said, Narvárez had a better arm than Kirk in 2025. His Catcher’s CS Above Average of 9 was second in the league, only behind Luis Torrens of the New York Mets. He caught 29% of would-be base stealers, better than Kirk’s 17%.
Dingler also has an advantage over Kirk in throwing out runners, as he had 4 Catcher’s CS Above Average, throwing out 30% of base stealers. However, the Tigers’ backstop only had 7 Catcher Framing Runs and 10 Blocks Above Average, which is good, but not as good as Kirk.
It’s also worth noting that Dingler finished the season with 6 DRS and 12 FRV in 1011.2 innings caught behind home plate.
So who will win
Realistically, it should be Kirk. Not only because he was the best defensive catcher in the American League, but because he’s owed one for being one of the best defensive catchers in baseball.
That said, it wouldn’t be surprising if voters choose Dingler or Narváez, as they both threw out runners, which has always been a big factor in determining who wins the award. Dingler also caught more innings than Kirk, but hopefully, that won’t matter too much.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.