Blue Jays missing Alejandro Kirk for this specific blocking reason originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Alejandro Kirk remains out with an injury as the Toronto Blue Jays try to manage without their starting catcher.
It shows up in a lot of ways, including behind the plate — specifically when the Blue Jays try to block a pitch in the dirt.
Kirk actually has a non-traditional strategy where he essentially tries to pick everything in his mitt rather than dropping into a blocking stance.
Brandon Valenzuela, fans analyzed recently on social media, still does it all the traditional way.
Kirk’s method may not be for everyone, but when he executes, the ball is directly in his glove.
The Valenzuela way runs the risk of the ball bouncing off him in an odd direction:
I’ve been watching Valenzuela struggling to block Yesavage’s splitters from his last couple outings and there is a huge difference in how Kirk approaches them.
Kirk (L) tries to reach out and catch them, even if it leads to a short hop. Valenzuela (R) does traditional blocking: pic.twitter.com/LwF7m8Bjhw
— Joshua (@JoshuaHowsam) May 21, 2026
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Kirk’s pitch blocking metrics in 2025 led baseball, which makes the case that either he’s simply more gifted than everyone else, or that his specific method is actually the best way of doing things.
Kirk does this with ALL breaking pitches, which I find fascinating. He’s the best pitch blocker in the game, so I wonder if it’s just innate skill that allows him to get away with this, or he’s just the pioneer of something that’ll become mainstream in a couple of years. https://t.co/izPhzxsjDy
— Joshua (@JoshuaHowsam) May 21, 2026
No one would teach a catcher to block like Kirk. But at the time when players are first learning to catch, they don’t have the hand-eye coordination and reflexes that Kirk has.
Maybe he has unlocked a better method for big league backstops, or maybe Kirk is simply one of one.
Either way, it’s clear that the Blue Jays miss him.
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