Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk reaches new milestone and much more

Not only that but Kirk is also moving on to Phase 2 of this year's MLB All-Star Game voting.

Alejandro Kirk finished in the top two in votes at the catching position, meaning he has advanced as a finalist to the next round.

Phase 2 is a head-to-head ballot between the finalists at each position. Kirk will battle Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh as the top two catchers.

Voting resumes on Monday at noon ET and closes at noon on July 2, after which the winners will be announced later that night.

Not only are Kirk and Raleigh the top two catchers in terms of All-Star voting, they are actually the two top catchers in all of baseball right now.

Kirk, 26, is now in his sixth season on the Blue Jays, and it's safe to say that his career has been full of high highs and low lows to this point.

Many people don't realize that Kirk has never played a single game (outside of a rehab assignment in 2021) at the Double- or Triple-A levels.

He made the jump from High-A to the majors and hasn't looked back.

The backstop hit .279 with a .788 OPS through his first 208 games spanning 2020 to 2022.

Along the way, he emerged as one of the game's top offensive catchers while starting the All-Star Game and earning a Silver Slugger in that 2022 season.

In 2023, he lost his feel for hard contact and his numbers faltered because of it. Kirk finished the season in some extremely low percentiles in Hard-Hit%, Barrel%, xwOBA, and AVG Exit Velocity that year.

A gradual improvement across the board in 2024 bridged the gap to what has been a(nother) breakout season for the rotund catcher in the current campaign.

Now, Kirk is back and better than ever. It's easy to look at a player of Kirk's stature and determine that he doesn't have the ideal body shape for a professional baseball player, but he's been dominant on both sides of the ball this year despite the fact that he stands at 5-foot-8 and is around 250 pounds.

Now, he's turning himself into one of baseball's most well-rounded catchers.

Outside of Cal Raleigh, Kirk is easily the best backstop in the American League. Will Smith and William Contreras are two of the National League's premier catchers, but neither have had the success on both sides of the ball that Kirk has through the first few months of the new year.

Sure, Kirk has his shortcomings, but he's put himself legitimately in the conversation (perhaps even at the top of it) for being one of baseball's best catchers.

He's got some of the sharpest defensive chops in the league and a red-hot bat to go along with that. What's not to love?