Blue Jays announce pair of roster moves ahead of June 29 game against the Giants

Prior to this evening's matchup against the San Francisco Giants, the Toronto Blue Jays have announced a pair of roster moves.

• C Alejandro Kirk has been activated from the injured list.
• C Tyler Heineman has been optioned to Triple-A Buffalo.

Kirk, 24, had been on the 10-day injured list with a hand injury he sustained last week when he was hit by a pitch. He missed the minimum of 10 days and is now going to be active for tonight's game against the Giants.

To kick off the current campaign, Kirk has not quite been able to replicate his offensive successes from last year. In 59 games, he has hit three home runs and driven in 21 runs while posting a .253 batting average, .668 OPS and 90 OPS+. He continues to show off a superb eye at the plate and has some of the best plate discipline on the club, but his production is nowhere close to what it was last year when he won the Silver Slugger Award at catcher.

On defense, Kirk has already thrown out eight runners after throwing out 12 all of last season. His CS% sits at 17 with league-average being 22.

For Heineman, this demotion is going to continue his recent stretch of shuttling back and forth between the minors and the majors. Now heading back to Buffalo, the 32-year-old has spent time on four different teams including the Triple-A and big league affiliates of both the Blue Jays and the Pirates.

While filling in on the Blue Jays' active roster, the four-year veteran has performed admirably, making it into nine games and registering five hits while drawing four walks and striking out five times. He remains the only non-Kirk and non-Jansen catcher on the 40-man roster, so he will continue to be the organization's top depth option behind the plate.