{"id":699102,"date":"2026-05-14T22:51:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/699102\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T22:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:51:15","slug":"blue-jays-catcher-valenzuela-says-his-teammates-help-him-feel-right-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/699102\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays catcher Valenzuela says his teammates help him feel right at home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Brandon Valenzuela of the Toronto Blue Jays is soaked after defeating the Los Angeles Angels at Rogers Centre on May 9.Kevin Sousa\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

On Brandon Valenzuela\u2019s left forearm is a medium-sized tattoo of a cartoon bear, leaping with its paws in the air, named Koda. The ink captures a scene from the 2003 Disney movie Brother Bear. <\/p>\n

Not seen on Toronto\u2019s rookie catcher\u2019s forearm is the character Koda\u2019s embracing \u2013 a bear named Kenai. Valenzuela\u2019s older brother, Edgar, has a tattoo of Kenai.<\/p>\n

Kenai is Koda\u2019s older brother in the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship between Koda and Kenai, that\u2019s what I feel with Edgar,\u201d Valenzuela, 25, said. \u201cHe got experience quicker than me and he was teaching me about life. <\/p>\n

\u201cBesides my parents, he\u2019s taken care of me a lot.\u201d <\/p>\n

Over the last two years, Valenzuela said their brotherly bond grew stronger. One day, while sifting through his Instagram feed, Valenzuela saw a \u201ccute\u201d brothers\u2019 tattoo, which inspired him to search for something to symbolize his relationship with Edgar. <\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Whatever the Blue Jays are, at least they\u2019re not the Mets<\/a><\/p>\n

The pair inked their matching Koda-Kenai marks in January. <\/p>\n

When Valenzuela made his MLB debut on April 5 in Chicago, his parents, two brothers \u2013 Jaime, who played baseball in Mexico, and Edgar \u2013 and Edgar\u2019s wife were all in attendance. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an amazing moment,\u201d Valenzuela said. \u201cI ain\u2019t gonna lie, it was really emotional.\u201d <\/p>\n

After Wednesday\u2019s outing against the Tampa Bay Rays, the rookie has 25 major-league games under his belt. His elevated role in the five weeks since his debut come due to an injury to catcher Alejandro Kirk. <\/p>\n

A left thumb fracture has sidelined Kirk since April 4. In his place, Valenzuela and fellow catcher Tyler Heineman, 34, have tried offsetting the two-time American League all-star\u2019s absence. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s done a really good job of blending in from a catching standpoint,\u201d Blue Jays<\/a> general manager John Schneider said. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Valenzuela is congratulated as he crosses home plate by Daulton Varsho after hitting a three-run home run. Valenzuela noted support from veterans like Varsho, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and George Springer has helped to keep his anxiety low.Chris Young\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Valenzuela\u2019s batted .222 with four home runs through 63 at-bats. The rookie ranks second in home runs per game (0.16) among Blue Jays with a minimum of six contests played. First-year Kazuma Okamoto leads Toronto in home runs (10) and home runs per game (0.24). <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s obviously got power, he\u2019s obviously got a lot of strength, so that\u2019s a plus,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to do, coming into the big leagues for the first time, and he\u2019s been a pleasant surprise.\u201d <\/p>\n

Though Valenzuela\u2019s debut came on April 5 against the White Sox, he pinpointed his \u2018welcome to the show\u2019 moment to two days later when Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto \u2013 who won the 2025 World Series MVP against the Blue Jays \u2013 opposed him in Toronto. The batter-pitcher duel came after he watched Shohei Ohtani lead off for Los Angeles to start the game. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was like \u2018Okay, this is the league, I\u2019m here,\u2019\u201d Valenzuela recalled. <\/p>\n

\u201cI never felt overpowered by them,\u201d he added. \u201cBut at the same time, I knew it wasn\u2019t going to be a nice, easy game. So, the preparation mentally was more focused.\u201d <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Blue Jays pitcher Tommy Nance hugs teammate Valenzuela after defeating the Angels on May 9. Valenzuela has a tattoo on his left forearm of a cartoon bear, Koda, from the 2003 Disney movie Brother Bear.Kevin Sousa\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Valenzuela implied he could wax poetically about the Blue Jays veterans who have offered him advice over the last five-plus weeks. Advice, which Valenzuela, wearing a commemorative T-shirt given away to fans on Monday to celebrate \u201clegendary\u201d home runs throughout the franchise\u2019s 50-year history, admitted has helped to keep the anxiety low. <\/p>\n

Specifically, he noted support from veterans like Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 27, Daulton Varsho, 29, and George Springer, 36, among others. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys are amazing here,\u201d Valenzuela said. \u201cI never felt they were thinking less of me because I was a rookie, which I heard stories about that, so I was kind of mentally preparing for that, but I\u2019m happy.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been everything that we need him to be,\u201d Springer said. \u201cHe\u2019s still learning and still understanding the game, but he\u2019s been great.\u201d <\/p>\n

Springer was one of five iconic Blue Jays on Valenzuela\u2019s shirt. This season, the Blue Jays \u2013 Valenzuela included \u2013 hope to make the organization update the T-shirt with a sixth iconic homer in the fall. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re [expletive] here for,\u201d Valenzuela said. \u201cWe\u2019re here for the playoffs, we\u2019re here to win it all. We\u2019re trying to get a ring, so if I can contribute to the team in any way, it\u2019s gonna be good for me.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Brandon Valenzuela of the Toronto Blue Jays is soaked after defeating the Los…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[7508,7493,5,7509,377,2554,5965,5961,7510,1465,7488,7499,7500,7495,7489,7487,6589,7506,7504,7498,7492,7521,7490,7491,7497,7494,5826,1358,7511,4,5755,7516,7517,7519,7514,7518,7512,7515,5719,7502,7503,1239,7501,7513,317,7505,282,70,2553,7507,7496,4750,6984,7520],"class_list":["post-699102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto-blue-jays","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-baseball","tag-bc","tag-blue-jays","tag-bluejays","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-mlb","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-blue-jays","tag-torontobluejays","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699102","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=699102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}