Brandon

Valenzuela

Valenzuela led off the third inning with a base hit, then broke the game open with a three-run blast off Mitch Farris to highlight a seven-run fifth inning for the Blue Jays. He added a third hit and scored again in the seventh and drove in a run with his fourth hit in the eighth. The 25-year-old backstop has operated as the team’s primary catcher in Alejandro Kirk’s absence, hitting .246/.306/.474 with four homers, nine runs scored, and ten RBI across 62 plate appearances.

Valenzuela had been 5-for-34 with a 14/1 K/BB as a part-time replacement for Alejandro Kirk before his little breakout today. Although both catchers are switch-hitters, it seems like the Jays prefer Tyler Heineman against lefties, leaving Valenzuela starting about half of the time against righties for now.

Brandon Valenzuela will make his fifth consecutive start behind the plate in this one. Heineman has been on the shelf for nearly a week at this point due to back spasms. He would presumably be available off the bench in an emergency situation but Toronto is clearly trying to stay away from him until the issue subsides.

It’ll be rookie backstop Brandon Valenzuela making his fourth straight start behind the dish while Heineman remains sidelined with back spasms. It’s possible he’ll require a trip to the injured list at some point this week to enable Toronto to bring up some emergency catching depth.

That explains why Heineman didn’t play at all over the weekend while rookie Brandon Valenzuela draws his third consecutive start. Heineman is considered day-to-day and should return to action early next week.

Valenzuela put the finishing touches on a five-run fourth inning for the Blue Jays with his first career homer, which came off Simeon Woods Richardson with two outs and a runner on second. The 25-year-old catcher took advantage of a middle-high fastball from Woods Richardson and sent it 401 feet to deep right center to put the Jays up 5-4 and them their first lead of the day. Valenzuela has found increased playing time since Alejandro Kirk (thumb) underwent surgery. He’s a career .242 hitter in the minors and has slugged just 10 homers in 586 games down on the farm. He can be left on waivers entering next week.

It’s not a worst-case scenario after Kirk underwent a procedure to address a fracture in his left thumb that involved inserting a screw, according to Blue Jays manager John Schneider. The 27-year-old backstop will be on the shelf until at least mid-May. There should be an exact timetable once he’s cleared to resume baseball activities and head out on a rehab assignment. It’ll be Tyler Heineman and Brandon Valenzuela handling the catching duties in his absence.

With Alejandro Kirk on the injured list with a thumb injury, Heineman will get most of the starts behind the plate. Tuesday is an exception, however, as Brandon Valenzuela will catch Kevin Gausman and hit ninth.

Valenzuela has been summoned to the majors for the first time to bolster Toronto’s catching situation with starter Alejandro Kirk hitting the shelf with a fractured left thumb. It’s the first call-up for the 25-year-old backstop after coming over from the Padres in the Will Wagner trade last July. He’ll serve as veteran Tyler Heineman’s caddy while Kirk is on the injured list.

A foul tip deflected off the bottom of Kirk’s mitt and left him in a lot of pain, so much so that he walked off without any attempt to stay in. If there’s a break, he’ll probably miss at least a month. Brandon Valenzuela would likely be called up to share time with Tyler Heineman.