ATLANTA – Alejandro Kirk moved through the Toronto Blue Jays system fast and while he debuted during the pandemic season of 2020 and managed to hit the ground running, he also had lots to work on heading into the 2022 season. The club had just promoted Luis Hurtado, who had worked with the young backstop since he signed in 2016, to serve as the club’s bullpen catcher/catching coach and he saw a player that “was scrambling a little bit” defensively the previous season, alternating from a one-knee stance with the bases empty to a wide crouch with runners aboard. Everyone believed he was capable of far more, including Kirk himself.

“When I saw him for the first time in 2022, I told him, ‘Hey, we’re going to stick with one knee on the ground and we’re going to work on your blocking and we’re going to get you to be the best receiver in the game because you’ve got good hands,’” recalled Hurtado. “We built confidence in him, and after that, we were taking it one step at a time.”

Three years and countless hours of deliberate and structured work later, Kirk is at minimum one of the very best receivers in the game, a key part of why he’s an American League all-star for the second time. At plus-8 catcher framing runs, he ranks second in the majors, one behind San Francisco’s Patrick Bailey, while his plus-13 blocks above average is tops in the majors, five ahead of former teammate Danny Jansen of the Rays, Boston’s Carlos Narvaez and Detroit’s Dillon Dingler. His catcher’s caught stealing above average of plus-4 is tied for third in the majors, behind Narvaez and Luis Torrens of the Mets, who are tied at plus-7.

Add in the offensive piece — he is batting .303/.361/.408 with seven homers, 45 RBIs and a wRC+ of 116 — and Kirk is a much more complete player than he was when his bat largely carried him to the Midsummer Classic at Dodgers Stadium. “He deserves a lot to be here,” said fellow all-star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. “And I don’t say that because he’s my teammate — everybody knows he’s one of the best in the league.”

Standing in a bustling American League clubhouse Tuesday afternoon, Kirk reflected on his transformation over the past four years, describing his emergence and this all-star selection as “a dream.”

“When you’re younger, you dream of all this,” he continued through interpreter Hector Lebron. “But I couldn’t imagine what I was going to be capable to do.”

“He’s at peace behind the plate,” said Jonathan Aranda, the first-time Tampa Bay Rays infielder who’s been close with Kirk since childhood. “And it’s good that we are seeing it now.”

Integral in that regard was the full-time switch to a one-knee stance in 2022, a decision driven by numbers that he received pitches better that way. 

Kirk wasn’t reluctant, but “there were some doubts because it was a little bit harder for me to block balls on one knee.” Throwing was also more challenging out of that stance, but there was no time to address everything at once, so instead the Blue Jays opted to focus on one skill at a time. 

During that 2022 season, the focus was on locking down his receiving and getting him more comfortable blocking and he finished fourth in the majors with nine catcher framing runs. In 2023 and 2024, the priority was to make more gains blocking and improve his arm strength, while going into the season, the emphasis was on situational awareness and subtleties of the game.

“I’m proud of him for everything,” said Hurtado. “Everything being so good is just because of the development and the way that he takes his pride in his working routines. He’s been so disciplined. And he’s hungry to understand and to learn.”

Kirk’s pre-game work includes some weighted ball work to keep his arm strong, several minutes of blocking balls in the dirt whipped at him by Hurtado and a staggered series of exercises to keep his hand movement when receiving a pitch sharp. All that happens around pre-game meetings with the starter, his hitting work and then catching the starter in the bullpen. 

“It was basically being consistent,” Kirk said of his gains. “Obviously, experience, I matured a little bit, but I got better in every aspect of my game and the years helped me out.”

Kirk hit 14 homers with 63 RBIs while posting a .285/.372/.415 batting line in 2022, but he slumped in both 2023 and 2024, when he hit only 13 homers total while posting an OPS of .692 and .677.

This off-season, “I didn’t change much,” at the plate from a physical perspective, but he is “trying not to be too hard on myself” while incorporating “a better approach this year than in prior years.”

Key to that approach is being more selective with what he swings at, something that’s essential for hitters with elite bat-to-ball skills like Kirk, allowing them to make some contact that’s unproductive.

“As you know, one of my problems was a lot of groundballs,” said Kirk, whose groundball percentage is down to 43.7 per cent after peaking at 50.2 per cent in 2023, while his hard-hit rate is at a career-best 40.2 per cent. “This year, part of my approach is to look for the pitch that I can put in the air.”

So far, he’s been finding them, helping Kirk carry the Blue Jays to first in the AL East, and himself back to the Midsummer Classic.

“He’s got really soft hands, works under the ball extremely well, back-picks really well, just a good all-around catcher,” praised Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, who is in the midst of an MVP-calibre season that earned him the AL’s starting spot. “Obviously, he can hit with the best of them, as well, sprays the ball to all fields. Just very impressive.”