Alejandro Kirk gave John Schneider another steady injury update Friday, and the Blue Jays catcher still looks to be moving on schedule.
Schneider said Kirk is set to resume hitting this weekend as planned. He has not started catching yet, but he is throwing, and the manager said the recovery is progressing well.
That matters because this is the kind of update Toronto needed to hear. After thumb surgery, every clean rehab step counts more than loose optimism.
Kirk has been out since early April after suffering a fractured left thumb on a foul tip against the White Sox. The injury was serious enough to require surgery, which immediately turned this into a longer absence behind the plate.
The good news now is that the plan has not changed. CBS Sports reported Kirk was expected to begin hitting this weekend, and Schneider's latest update keeps him right on that track.
That does not put him one step from the lineup card. A catcher coming off thumb surgery still has to prove he can receive, throw through full game work, and handle the wear that comes with the position.
So the fact that he is throwing already matters almost as much as the bat work. It shows the Blue Jays are building him back into baseball activity instead of keeping him in a static rehab stage.
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Alejandro Kirk's next checkpoint is bigger than a date
The original timeline always pointed toward roughly 6 weeks after the April 7 surgery, which puts Kirk in the late-May conversation if everything keeps moving cleanly.
But the real hinge now is not the calendar. It is when Toronto feels comfortable sending him into rehab games, because that is where the return starts becoming real instead of theoretical.
The Blue Jays have had to patch things together without him. Kirk is not just another bat missing from the lineup. He is the starting catcher, a trusted presence with the pitching staff, and one of the steadier everyday pieces on this roster when healthy.
That is why Schneider's wording stood out. He did not hint at a setback, and he did not walk back the plan. He described a player still moving forward.
For Toronto, that is enough to call this a good day on the injury front. Alejandro Kirk is not back yet, but the Blue Jays still have him on the path they wanted, and that matters.
Should the Blue Jays give Alejandro Kirk a full rehab assignment before activating him?
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