TORONTO — Alejandro Kirk rarely breaks from a demeanour so level-headed that it borders on stoic, which can sometimes make it difficult to read the catcher.
How do the Toronto Blue Jays, then, know when he’s getting “very emotional,” something he said being named to the American League all-star team for a second time made him feel on Sunday morning?
“He kind of gives you a little bit more than just that little head nod,” manager John Schneider said with a grin. “When he's talking a little bit more and you can see the physical emotion out of him, that's when he's at his best, whether he's blocking Brendon Little's curveball or hitting a double or throwing out a baserunner. We joke that Kirkie's a unicorn. He's one-of-one and we love to see the emotion out of him.”
Excited that he gets to share his second trip to the Midsummer Classic with his daughter Emilia, who was born in the spring of 2023 following his appearance in the 2022 game at Dodger Stadium, Kirk was informed of the selection during the club’s pre-game hitters meeting.
Schneider said he first informed the Blue Jays that Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels would be played with the Rogers Centre roof closed due to a heat warning in Toronto, and then broke the news about Kirk, an obvious pick behind starter Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners.
The 26-year-old, who signed a $58-million, five-year extension during the spring, has continued his tremendous defensive growth so far this season while rebounding at the plate after two down years. Through 75 games, he’s batting .301/.359/.413 with seven homers and 41 RBIs, while striking out only 29 times in 298 plate appearances, all while logging 558 innings behind the plate, a top-10 workload.
That comes after he followed up his all-star 2022 OPS of .786 with seasons of .692 and .677 while splitting the catching duties with Danny Jansen. The deadline deal that sent Jansen to the Boston Red Sox last July handed the job to Kirk, and a focus on his “mental approach” at the plate this off-season, along with his work at the club’s Player Development Complex, “helped me a lot.”
“To know who I am as a hitter was very important,” Kirk said through interpreter Hector Lebron, “and I think I'm seeing the results of that right now.”
Who he is at the plate, he feels, is “a complete hitter right now,” something he’s gotten back to after “trying to hit homers” the past couple of years.
“I don't consider myself a home-run hitter,” Kirk explained. “This year, complete hitter, trying to hit the ball the other way, trying to get the runners in, find a way to help the team win.”
Another factor, he believes, was the stops and starts in playing time while sharing duties with Jansen, where “maybe (the approach) got away from me.”
“But now, obviously, I'm playing mostly every day and I have the chance to keep working on that specific approach,” he said.
At the same time, Kirk’s defensive work has continued to progress, throwing out 16 runners in 54 stolen-base attempts, while tying San Francisco’s Patrick Bailey with a big-league leading eight catcher framing runs and a best-in-the-majors 12 blocks above average.
“The way he can steal strikes and the way he can kind of expand the zone and make it really easy for us is amazing,” said Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman. “I love the way he reads both me and the hitter once I come into a game. Especially for me, who only works an inning, you have to identify what you have that day quickly. You have to [see] how they're taking sliders, how they react to a splitter after a heater, that kind of thing. And he does a really good job of recognizing that, and a couple pitches in, and we're like, OK, we got it. That's amazing.”
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All of which is why Schneider described Kirk’s all-star selection as “so well deserved.”
“What he's meant for us, what he's done this year, both sides of the ball,” he added, “has been awesome.”
Here's the full list of all-star reserves:
American League
Alejandro Kirk, Toronto Blue Jays
Jonathan Aranda, Tampa Bay Rays
Brandon Lowe, Tampa Bay Rays
Jeremy Pena, Houston Astros
Jazz Chisholm Jr., New York Yankees
Alex Bregman, Boston Red Sox
Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals
Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins
Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians
Julio Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners
Brent Rooker, Athletics
National League
Pete Alonso, New York Mets
Corbin Carroll, Arizona Diamondbacks
Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati Reds
Brendan Donovan, St. Louis Cardinals
Hunter Goodman, Colorado Rockies
Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves
Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies
Kyle Stowers, Miami Marlins
Eugenio Suarez, Arizona Diamondbacks
Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres
James Wood, Washington Nationals
-- With files from Sportsnet Staff
