The Blue Jays catching duo balances each other out perfectly in an intriguing way

When it comes to the Toronto Blue Jays catching tandem of Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk, they have been the perfect complement of each other so far in 2024, but in a very drastic yet unorthodox way. What one has been severely lacking, the other makes up in a big way.

Starting with Jansen, since coming off the IL back in late April, he has provided an offensive spark for the Jays. After a slow start in his first few games to get back up to game speed, Jansen has come on as of late, with 3 home runs in his past four games. In total, he has batted a solid .267 with a stellar 1.038 OPS with 5 runs scored, 3 RBI, 5 walks and 6 strikeouts over 10 games.

However, Jansen has been quite the disaster after just nine starts behind the plate. He has already committed 2 errors, but more significantly is the fact that he has allowed 12 of 13 baserunners to successfully steal a base off of him so far in 2024. So the opposition can basically grab their free base at will the moment they get on. For a team that is already having trouble scoring runs, that could prove costly for the Jays in the long run if not rectified.

On the other hand, Kirk has been the exact opposite of Jansen. In fact, Kirk has been practically performing at an All-Star level with regards to his defense. After registering an impressive 17 DRS last season, he is already up to 5 DRS after just 21 games played this year. More impressively, Kirk leads the AL with a 37% caught-stealing rate, as he has thrown out 7 of 19 baserunners trying to steal. On top of that, he also leads the entire league with a 55.2% framing strike rate. With that kind of defensive prowess, he should be a must-start for the Jays every game right?

But as you guessed it, it has been a completely different story for him on the offensive side of things. Ever since his breakout 2022 season in which he was an All-Star and Silver Slugger winner, Kirk has regressed considerably since then with his hitting. This season, he is currently batting a career-low .194 with a .536 OPS and 58 OPS+. The only good part was the fact that he has somehow made his hits count, with 10 RBI in just 13 hits on the season.

If it was ever possible, it would be amazing if Kirk can handle all of the defensive duties behind the plate, while Jansen does all of the hitting. In the meantime, the Jays should carefully strategize who should start behind the plate based on the matchup for that day. If strong defense is needed, it’ll be Kirk all the way. If they need to out-slug their opponents, then Jansen is here to answer the bell. In the long run though, if Jansen can somehow pickup his defensive game and Kirk steps up his offensive potential, it would make them both effective and playable under any circumstances. That way, it would makes things a lot easier on how the Jays can deploy them going forward.