How does the Toronto Blue Jays’ catching tandem rank in MLB?

Yes, these lists are subjective and sometimes purposely controversial to encourage engagement, but Kirk as the tenth-best catcher in the big leagues right now? Cal Raleigh is a no-brainer at the top, but the rest of that list after Will Smith is pretty interchangeable. The lack of Kirk in the top five is a little worrisome.

Living inside the Blue Jays bubble, it’s no secret that Kirk not only has been one of the hottest hitting catchers as of late, but he’s been one of the hottest hitters in MLB, period. This list only shows how Kirk is flying under the radar this season in other baseball realms outside of Toronto.

The Blue Jays have been extremely fortunate this season not only to get offensive and defensive contributions from Alejandro Kirk, but Tyler Heineman is pulling his weight as well. In limited work, Heineman has come through with some big hits, and he’s an above-average defensive catcher.

But how do Blue Jays catchers rank overall in MLB? I don’t think anyone could’ve seen this coming going into 2025, but the Blue Jays currently have the second-best catching tandem in the bigs, second only to the Seattle Mariners and Raleigh’s eye-popping numbers.

FanGraphs’ catching depth chart has the Blue Jays catchers at 3.3 fWAR on the season, with the Seattle Mariners only slightly ahead at 3.5 fWAR. Remember that these factors in offence, defence and baserunning into these totals. But any way you slice it, Kirk and Heineman as a duo are an elite catching pair in MLB.

As a pair, Kirk and Heineman have nine defensive runs on the season, tied for second in MLB, behind the Boston Red Sox with 11 defensive runs saved from their catchers.

No matter the defensive metric you want to look at on Baseball Savant, the Blue Jays are among the best in the game related to framing pitches, blocking balls and controlling the running game. You want blocks? The Blue Jays are the best in baseball.

You want to know which team is the best at stealing strikes by framing pitches? That’s the Blue Jays.

And one supremely underrated aspect of the Blue Jays catcher’s defensive game is their ability to throw out baserunners. Not the best in baseball this time, but a tidy second place on this Baseball Savant leaderboard.

The Blue Jays have their defensive game on lock, but how about the other side of the ball? Heineman won’t post a 187 wRC+ the rest of the season, but both Blue Jays catchers are showing they’re no slouches at the plate. Kirk’s contributions alone are enough to vault the Blue Jays into the discussion as having one of the best catching cores in the league this year.

Batting average is a bit of an outdated stat, but the fact that Kirk’s .325 batting average is the fifth best among qualified hitters is not I couldn’t have foreseen. He’s back to the All-Star iteration of Kirk from 2022 that we all assumed was a one-off after a hot first half.

Through the first 55 games of this season, Kirk is slashing .325/.367/.440. During the first 55 games of his breakout campaign in 2022, Kirk slashed .318/.398/.465. If he can keep this up for three more weeks, Kirk is probably backing up Raleigh at the All-Star Game in Atlanta. Who knows if Kirk can keep up this pace, but it’s wild to see him transform back into this offensive juggernaut when he’s been primarily a defensive stalwart dating back to the 2023 season. This is a guy who was a below league average hitter in 2022 and 2023, and now he’s back making contact with seemingly everything, whether or not it’s in the strike zone.

I realize we’re only into year one of Kirk’s five-year $58 million contract extension, but the Blue Jays may have scored a serious bargain here. The front office often referenced Kirk’s strong second half of 2024 as a sign of optimism, but could they even have predicted what Kirk is doing right now?

Most people reserved themselves to the fact that the Blue Jays would pay $12 million a season for one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, which isn’t all that egregious. But if he chips in with an above-average bat as well? That’s supreme value.

Kirk has done this before, and Heineman has mostly been a defensive catcher in the past, but the amount of production the Blue Jays are getting out of their catching duo is off the charts. And now it’s one position on the diamond that looks to be in good hands for many years to come in this organization.