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Blue Jays 2024 Opening Day roster projection 1.0: Which infielder gets squeezed out?
By Eric Treuden
On Saturday, the Toronto Blue Jays officially played their first game of the 2024 season. Taking on the Philadelphia Phillies' spring training squad, Jays Journal's No. 19 prospect Chad Dallas started the contest for the Jays. While the game didn't end in the Jays' favor, it was still oh, so nice to watch a baseball game again.
The Blue Jays made a handful of moves to shore up their team this offseason, but none that either (a) broke the bank or (b) resulted in All-Star-caliber players coming north of the border. It seems that ownership is relying heavily on bounceback campaigns from the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer, Daulton Varsho and Alek Manoah.
Now that games are underway, we're going to look into the Jays' 26-man roster that they'll trot out on Opening Day. We're still a ways away from that, but here's our first round of roster predictions for the 2024 Blue Jays.
Catchers (2)
Danny Jansen
With the way Danny Jansen swings the bat, he should be the Blue Jays' No. 1 catcher on the depth chart this season. The only problem with that is the fact that historically, he has shown that he can't be relied upon for a full season of games.
In fact, the backstop has only appeared in 100+ games one time in his six-year big league career. The dude has immense pop in his bat and has sported an OPS+ north of 100 in each of the last three seasons, but durability is going to be a key focus for him moving forward.
Alejandro Kirk
Alejandro Kirk came crashing back down to earth last year after what was an incredible 2022 campaign. He followed up an All-Star Game appearance and Silver Slugger Award with an OPS+ below 100 and a decent-but-not-great .334 OBP.
Kirk has proven to be more durable than Jansen is, so the two will pair together nicely. Jansen brings the bat, Kirk brings the on-base skills and defense. If they can form a 50-50 split on the season, it will be a win for the Blue Jays.
Without a clear third catcher on the 40-man roster, it's crucial that the Jansen-Kirk duo find a way to prevent this year's version of Tyler Heineman getting too many opportunities in a big league contest.