Alejandro Kirk's offensive drop-off needs to be talked about more

Alejandro Kirk had come into the season with a chip on his shoulder. After emerging as one of the leagues top catchers in 2022, Kirk had taken a reasonable step back offensively last season. This regression was even more unfortunate due to the fact that Kirk has proved himself as one of the better defensive catchers in baseball. It makes it all the more disappointing how Kirk has performed in the first month of this season.

Kirk has a measly 61 wRC+, which is ranked 21st out of 22 catchers with 70+ plate appearances. He has just a double and home run as his 2 extra base hits on the year. Going from a Silver Slugger at the age of 24 to his current production is one of the most significant regressions in MLB. How did it happen so abruptly, and what's Kirk been struggling with the most?

It's become incredibly clear that Kirks downwards trend in the wrong direction matches up with him losing the ability to make hard contact with the ball when he connects. His K/BB ratio has been around the same over the past 3 seasons, as Kirk still doesn't whiff or chase out of the zone, while averaging a BB% of around 10% each season. What's also jarring is his 45.5% groundball rate, and when that's paired with Kirk's sprint speed in the 1st percentile, it makes him one of the biggest double play threats in all of baseball. Since the beginning of 2023, Kirk has hit into 25 double plays which is tied for 5th in all of MLB. Kirk has only had 435 at bats, meaning 5.7% of his at bats have resulted in a double play.

This is a poor development for Kirk, as he was trusted to be the Jays future catcher after unloading Gabriel Moreno last off-season. The Jays are still deeply hoping for Kirk to bounce back to old form, but how likely may that be? Here are some of the positives Kirk has had to show thus far.

Kirk had just had a 3 hit game, where he collected his first home run of the season, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. What gets more interesting was the quality of contact on one of his base hits. Kirk had roped a line drive single, at an exit velocity of 112.9 MPH, which became the highest of Kirk's career. Being able to get back to consistent hard contact is the key stepping stone to getting back the prime production Kirk could deliver.

There's also been speculation if Kirk has changed his approach from years prior, which is preventing him from making the same consistent contact he used to be able to do. Thomas Hall had noticed a difference in the stance Kirk used to have versus now. There may be a few factors that have led to this development, but the Jays would be committed to getting the older version of Kirk back however they can.

Like many other Jays players, Kirk's first month of the season did not go as he would've hoped. However seasons don't end within a month for a reason, and he will still have a chance to correct the ship as the year goes on. In addition, with Danny Jansen back in action, some of the pressure that Kirk had to carry by himself has been lightened. The ceiling once felt so high with Kirk's potential, and if he can just exhibit the skills that made him such an important player, it would make this Jays roster look a whole lot more complete.