Alejandro Kirk gave John Schneider a needed rehab step Monday, but the Blue Jays catcher is not close to full duty yet.
Kirk has started a hitting progression at the Blue Jays complex in Dunedin, beginning with swings off a tee and flips. That is the first real offensive ramp-up since his left thumb surgery in April.
That matters because Toronto has been waiting on any sign that Kirk was ready to move beyond basic recovery work. A catcher coming back from a thumb injury does not just need the hand to calm down. He needs it to handle both the bat and the glove.
The good news is that Kirk has already been throwing for a while. That part of his buildup is not the holdup right now, which at least tells the Blue Jays his arm work has stayed on track.
The bigger issue is behind the plate. Kirk still has not caught yet, and that keeps this update in the progress category instead of the return countdown category.
For a catcher, that detail is the one that really sticks. Throwing on its own is useful, but receiving, blocking, and handling game action put a different kind of strain on the thumb.
Kirk is moving forward, but Toronto still has to wait
That is why this news lands as encouraging without changing the Blue Jays' immediate catching picture. Schneider can point to real progress, but he still cannot pencil Kirk back into the lineup until the catching work begins.
Toronto lost Kirk after he fractured and dislocated his left thumb on April 4, then sent him for surgery 2 days later. At the time, the Blue Jays made clear they expected a longer recovery, not a quick week-to-week absence.
That timeline still fits what is happening now. Starting to hit is a strong sign, but the fact that he has not caught yet says there are still steps left before rehab games or activation talk become realistic.
And that puts some pressure back on the catchers filling in for him. Until Kirk is receiving again, Toronto has to keep patching the position without its clearest option behind the plate.
Kirk's return still feels like a few stages away, not a few days away. But after weeks of mostly waiting, the Blue Jays finally have a real baseball step to point to.
For now, that is the story. Alejandro Kirk is swinging again, he has been throwing for weeks, and the next checkpoint is the one that matters most for a catcher: getting back behind the plate.
Should the Blue Jays wait until Alejandro Kirk is catching again before thinking about his return?
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