Blue Jays: Alejandro Kirk Baby Watch is officially over, daughter is born

Alejandro Kirk and his absence from Spring Training has been well documented so far this season.

The 24-year-old catcher and his partner Sofia have been expecting the birth of their daughter in recent days and reports resurfaced Monday evening/Tuesday morning that baby Emilia Jolene Kirk Castañeda was born.

Kirk himself posted on his Instagram story to announce that she had finally made her entrance.

This is obviously something that is bigger than baseball. Kirk had previously committed to representing Team Mexico in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, but ultimately withdrew his name from the running once it got closer to baby time.

So far in Spring Training, he has been absent to be with his partner. There's no real evidence to suggest that this missed time will negatively affect anything. For the most part, the pitching staff is going to look the same as it did last year, aside from the additions of Chris Bassitt and Erik Swanson.

Returning are Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Yusei Kikuchi and Mitch White, as well as the entire bullpen. Fortunately, Kirk will not have to spend too much time scrambling to learn new pitchers and develop relationships with them.

2023 is going to be an interesting year for Kirk as he will be attempting to follow up a significant breakout performance last year. In 139 games for the Jays in 2022, he hit 14 home runs and posted a .285 average and 126 OPS+. He walked (63) more times than he struck out (58), earned the starting catcher nod in the All-Star Game and won a Silver Slugger at the position.

For the upcoming season, he's going to continue to split time with Danny Jansen behind the plate. Jansen will also be entering 2023 with some new dad strength.

Congratulations to the Kirk (and Jansen) family on the new addition, here's to happiness and health and a great season for all in 2023.