Alejandro Kirk Fractures Thumb in Week of Notable Injuries

The Blue Jays have lost another key player to injury.

Alejandro Kirk left Friday’s game against the White Sox in the 10th inning after a foul tip glanced off his glove hand. He immediately dropped his glove, grabbed his thumb, and hustled into the clubhouse with trainers. The team after the game announced Kirk had fractured his thumb. No timeline for a return was given. Our injury log suggests batters with thumb fractures typically return in about four to eight weeks, although Kirk fractured the thumb on his catching hand, which could require a longer recovery.

It’s the latest significant injury for the reigning AL champs, who lost Cody Ponce last week while fielding a grounder in his first start in the majors since 2021. Trey Yesavage, José Berríos, and Shane Bieber are on the injured list, as well, though each is in the “throwing” process of his rehab.

Kirk entered 2026 projected by our Depth Charts to be the best player on the Blue Jays and the second-best catcher in the league, with 4.8 WAR. He posted 4.7 WAR in 2025 with a 116 wRC+ in 506 plate appearances and 22 FRV in 118 games behind the plate. He was the best pitch blocker in the league last year and the second-best pitch framer, behind only Patrick Bailey.

Toronto missed Kirk immediately. Tyler Heineman came on to replace Kirk behind the plate with the Blue Jays holding a 4-3 lead in the 10th inning and the Manfred Man on third. On the first pitch after the break, closer Jeff Hoffman got Austin Hays to swing through a slider to secure the second out of inning. That brought up Derek Hill, who bunted the first pitch he saw a few feet in front of the plate. Heineman scampered after the bunt, scooped it up, and threw the ball into right field; the tying run scored on the error and Hill moved up to second.

Two pitches later, Tristan Peters delivered a walk-off single to complete the comeback. It was a shrewd bit of baseball-ing on the part of the White Sox, challenging Heineman with a tough play after he sat on the bench for nearly three hours. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a team explicitly target a player off the bench like that. Perhaps it was out of desperation (Hill, with his career 74 wRC+, might not have been expected to pick up a hit otherwise), but it worked.

Heineman was part of a similar snafu the next day. With runners on first and second and two outs, Luisangel Acuña hit a squibber past the pitcher, just soft enough to prevent a play to first. Miguel Vargas, the runner at second, rounded third hard and got in a rundown between third and home. When the ball came to Heineman, he charged up the line and fired it into left field, allowing two runs to score.

Despite the miscues, Heineman is one of the better backups in the league. Like Kirk, he was a top defensive catcher last year, with strong framing and blocking numbers. He also held his own with the bat, posting a 120 wRC+ in 174 plate appearances. Heineman, however, has strong platoon splits, with a career 114 wRC+ against lefties and a career 76 wRC+ against righties.

Brandon Valenzuela replaced Kirk on the active roster and made his big league debut Sunday. The 25-year-old Valenzuela is a 40-FV prospect who ranks 28th in the Blue Jays system. As Brendan Gawlowski noted in his 2026 report, Valenzuela “has a backup catcher’s stick,” but he’s a fine defender with a strong arm, with the intangibles a team might find endearing as a full-time backup.

Injury Wrap-up

Kirk was far from the only notable player to go down with an injury within the last week. Let’s run through the injury news now. We’ll have separate write-ups on several of the injuries mentioned below:

• Juan Soto landed on the injured list Monday with a right calf strain. He pulled up early while running the bases Friday and came out of the game. The injury was initially described as minor, but he’ll now be sidelined at least two or three weeks. This is obviously a big blow for the Mets. Soto’s impact needs no introduction: Our Depth Charts projected him for the fourth-most WAR in 2026, and he’s simply one of the best young players ever. Brett Baty figures to get more time in left field with Soto out, though the Mets have a variety of utility options to cover the corner outfield spots in his absence.

• Mookie Betts was placed on the injured list this weekend after leaving Saturday’s win against the Nationals in the first inning with a strained right oblique. Dave Roberts said he believed it happened on a check swing. The manager did not give a timeline for when Betts might return, except that he believes it could be sooner than the standard absence of four to six weeks, with Roberts calling the injury “more moderate than significant.” Hyeseong Kim was recalled from Triple-A and will split time at shortstop with Miguel Rojas while Betts is out.

• Astros ace Hunter Brown was placed on the injured list Saturday with a right shoulder strain. Manager Joe Espada said Brown felt the issue during his routine throwing program last week. It’s an early blow to a Houston team that dealt with rotation injuries all of last year. Brown was one of the few pitchers who didn’t require a trip to the IL in 2025, and he helped keep the Astros afloat deep into the season. There’s no timeline for his return. Spencer Arrighetti will likely pitch in his place.

• Cubs right-hander Cade Horton exited his second start of 2025 with right forearm discomfort. He was placed on the IL on Sunday, and is expected to get imaging Monday; the team will offer an update on his timeline thereafter. A former top 100 prospect, Horton finished runner up for Rookie of the Year in 2025, when he posted a 2.67 ERA, a 3.58 FIP, and 2.2 WAR across 118 innings. He opened 2026 as the Cubs’ no. 2 starter. Colin Rea will take his turn in the rotation for now.

• The Cubs will also need to replace another starting pitcher, at least temporarily. The team announced Monday that Opening Day starter Matthew Boyd will hit the injured list with a left biceps strain. Boyd sounded optimistic that he’d only need the minimum time on the injured list, noting that he would have pitched through it if it weren’t so early in the year. Javier Assad will fill in for now. Along with Horton and Justin Steele, who had Tommy John surgery last year, Chicago’s top three starting pitchers are on the injured list.

• Mike Trout is considered day to day after getting hit on the hand Sunday and exiting the game early. X-rays revealed his hand is not broken. Trout said after the game that the swelling in his hand initially scared him, but he was relieved to find out it’s just a bruise. He expressed frustration with the Mariners hitting him twice over the weekend.

• Justin Verlander’s age-43 season is off to an unfortunate start. He was placed on the injured list Saturday with a left hip inflammation. The Tigers recalled Keider Montero from Triple-A, who started Sunday in Verlander’s place. The three-time Cy Young winner said the issue started in his first start of the season last Monday, when he gave up five runs over 3 2/3 innings against the Diamondbacks, but overall he didn’t seem too concerned. He told reporters:

“Kind of [around my] left hamstring, was just kinda working through it. And then it was really sore the next day or two, but it’s been trending in the right direction. And so it was kinda like a wait-and-see game if it could get good enough. To be quite frank, I think it probably is good enough if we wanted to push it, but [manager] A.J. [Hinch] and the front office — and I agree with them — [say] it’s probably not the time of year to do that. And we don’t have an off-day to finagle with, which also kind of hurts.”

• After Zach Eflin exited his first start of 2026 with right elbow discomfort last week, the Orioles placed him on the injured list. It was his first start in the majors since he underwent back surgery last August, which marked his third trip to the IL in 2025. The timeline for the latest injury is unclear, and Eflin is seeking a second opinion from Dr. Keith Meister on Tuesday. The Orioles struggled with starting pitcher depth in 2025 and were banking on Eflin returning to the form he displayed after the 2024 trade deadline. Dean Kremer will likely take his place in the rotation, though Kremer cannot be recalled until April 9 because he was optioned at the end of spring training.

• Jordan Lawlar was placed on the injured list after fracturing his wrist on a hit-by-pitch in Thursday’s game against the Braves. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks. Lawlar, who has ranked as high as fifth on our Top 100 Prospects list multiple times in recent years, has battled injuries and position log jams throughout his professional career, delaying his status as a full-time big leaguer and prompting the Diamondbacks to move him to the outfield before the start of this season to find him regular playing time. The positional change seemed to be working out; he was off to a hot start in his first 20 plate appearances before the injury. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said he assured Lawlar that his “spot will be waiting for him” when healthy. For now, Tim Tawa and Jorge Barrosa will get the bulk of the playing time in left field.

• The Red Sox placed Johan Oviedo on the injured list Friday with a right elbow strain. Manager Alex Cora said Oviedo felt fine after his first relief appearance of the season last week in Houston. A couple days later, however, Oviedo reported soreness and got an MRI, revealing the strain. His fastball velocity was down about 2.5 mph in his first outing. He will visit Dr. Meister, who performed his Tommy John surgery in 2023, to compare the MRI from last week to the one from his surgery.