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Buster OlneyApr 4, 2026, 11:46 AM ET<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Senior writer ESPN Magazine\/ESPN.com Multiple Authors<\/p>\n Alejandro Kirk<\/a>, Toronto<\/a>‘s star catcher, suffered a broken left thumb<\/a> on a foul tip in the Blue Jays’ loss to the Chicago White Sox<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n The Blue Jays placed Kirk on the 10-day injured list Saturday. He is expected to meet with doctors Monday to get a better idea of how much time he may miss. Given the nature of the injury, it is likely to be an extended absence.<\/p>\n Kirk was hit by the foul tip on his gloved hand. Catchers often shake off minor injuries during play, but Kirk immediately turned and walked off the field. Toronto manager John Schneider remarked after Friday’s game that Kirk’s reaction was concerning.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n Kirk, 27, served as the Blue Jays’ catcher as they made their run all the way to a Game 7 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> in the World Series. Last season, he hit .282 with 15 homers and earned his second All-Star appearance.<\/p>\n Tyler Heineman<\/a> presumably will take a lot of the playing time at catcher while Kirk is out. He is regarded as one of the best backups, with seven seasons of big league experience, including five with the Blue Jays; he played in 61 games last year, hitting .289 with three homers.<\/p>\n Catcher Brandon Valenzuela<\/a> was called up to take Kirk’s place on the roster.<\/p>\n The Blue Jays already have been hit by injuries this spring, with starting pitchers Shane Bieber<\/a>, Jose Berrios<\/a> and Trey Yesavage<\/a> all going down with arm problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Buster OlneyApr 4, 2026, 11:46 AM ET CloseSenior writer ESPN Magazine\/ESPN.com Analyst\/reporter ESPN television Author of “The Last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-564473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAnalyst\/reporter ESPN television
\nAuthor of “The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty”<\/p>\n