Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk takes batting practice at spring training in Dunedin, Fla., on Friday.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
With teammates watching from behind the batting cage, Alejandro Kirk stepped up to home plate on Friday at the Blue Jays training complex in Dunedin, Fla.
Jose Berrios, who had toyed with a hitter or two before him, wound up and delivered a hard fastball. Kirk lined it right up the middle and nearly right through Berrios’s legs.
Players yelled at the crack of the bat and Berrios did a bit of a dance as he escaped the scalded pitch. Concern quickly spread and abated for Berrios and excitement amped up for the 2026 season with Kirk’s swing.
We are only in the first week of training camp but Kirk has been here working out since well before that. He came in December, too, and says he feels great despite a heavy workload of 148 games last year, regular and postseason included.
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From the looks of it, it seems like he has picked up where he left off last year – and that is good news for Toronto.
The team has no official captain, but for the time being Kirk is carrying that mantle unofficially based on his clutch performances.
The Blue Jays unexpectedly won their first American League East championship in a decade last year. In the game where they clinched the division title, Kirk slammed two home runs against the Tampa Bay Rays, including a grand slam.
Over the course of the postseason he struck for five home runs and 13 runs batted in. Included in those numbers was a three-run blast that gave Toronto the lead in Game 3 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. LA went on to come back and win 6-5 in 18 innings.
The Blue Jays came within two outs of winning their first World Series since 1993. They lost in 11 innings in the seventh game when Kirk grounded into a double play with a runner in scoring position.
“It was a great, great year for the organization,” said Kirk through a translator. The 27-year-old from Tijuana, Mexico, was speaking outside Toronto’s clubhouse on a breezy, sunny 25-degree afternoon. “The way we were together in the clubhouse at the end of the season, if we can continue to be that way, we will be fine this year.”
Kirk was discovered by an eagle-eyed scout during a showcase when he was 17 and playing for the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League. He received just US$7,500 to sign with the Blue Jays. That is partially because he is shaped more like a sumo wrestler than a ballplayer.
Never mind his 5-foot-8, 245-pound frame. He is now considered one of the major leagues’ top catchers and in 2025 signed a five-year, US$58-million contract extension with Toronto. In 2022 he was named to the American League all-star team and also won a Silver Slugger Award. He was selected an all-star again in 2025.
Kirk will represent Mexico in the upcoming World Baseball Classic so he is on a tight spring training schedule. He will work as much as he can with some of the club’s new pitchers, including the hard-throwing Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce and the submariner Tyler Rogers.
“I have to get a lot of reps with them and talk with them and open the lines of communication,” Kirk said. “I would like to know about their tendencies, the way they work, what they like and don’t like to be sure we are on the same page.
“I don’t have to change too much, but I have to do my homework well.”