{"id":653718,"date":"2026-03-31T03:13:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/653718\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:13:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:13:23","slug":"blue-jays-make-alejandro-kirk-decision-ahead-of-rockies-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/653718\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays Make Alejandro Kirk Decision Ahead of Rockies Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alejandro Kirk is back in the lineup Monday as Toronto opens a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kirk had a day off on Sunday after catching the first two games of the season. Tyler Heineman stepped in behind the plate for the Blue Jays’ star catcher. It was a sensible move by manager John Schneider given managing Kirk’s workload is a priority for the Blue Jays.<\/p>\n

Through the first two games, the 27-year-old went 1-for-9 with a ninth-inning, game-tying solo home run, a walk and an additional run scored. It was a decent start for Kirk, showing the power that makes him one of the more dangerous catchers in the American League.<\/p>\n

Heineman took over for Kirk as a capable backup option whenever Toronto needs to give him a break, going 1-for-2 at the plate with a single and two runs in Sunday\u2019s series finale victory over the Athletics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The decision to give Kirk a day off so early in the season underscores how important he has become to the organization. His best offensive season came in 2022, when he hit .285\/.372\/.415 with 134 hits and 14 home runs while earning his first All-Star selection. While his numbers have dipped since that peak, Kirk remains a top force behind the plate. He ranked second among MLB<\/a> catchers in fielding run values (22) in 2025 according to MLB Savant. He earned his second All-Star nod last season on the strength of that defensive excellence and remains a top catcher in the league.<\/p>\n

\"Toronto<\/p>\n

Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk (30)\u00a9 Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(\u00a9 Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

In 2026, Kirk and the Blue Jays are looking to go one step further after falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> in last year\u2019s World Series. Keeping their catcher healthy and successful starts with smart roster management by Schneider.<\/p>\n

Kirk seeks to build on that late-game home run against the Athletics in Monday\u2019s contest against Colorado and to remind the league why he is one of the faces of the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> franchise.<\/p>\n

Related: Blue Jays Make Kazuma Okamoto Decision Before Athletics Game<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Mar 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the MLB<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alejandro Kirk is back in the lineup Monday as Toronto opens a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2405],"tags":[3426,5,377,167,52,4316,3964,57,4,168,1949,1414,282,70,15820],"class_list":{"0":"post-653718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-rockies","8":"tag-alejandro-kirk","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-blue-jays","11":"tag-colorado","12":"tag-colorado-rockies","13":"tag-coloradorockies","14":"tag-john-schneider","15":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-rockies","18":"tag-the-athletics","19":"tag-the-blue-jays","20":"tag-toronto","21":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","22":"tag-tyler-heineman"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116321610693801749","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}