Brandon Valenzuela Is the Hero the Blue Jays Didn't Know They Needed

[Leo Morgenstern]

Monday was a rough one for Brandon Valenzuela. The Blue Jays catcher made two errors and let the Yankees steal five bases. He was well off the mark in his only ABS challenge of the game. His called strike rate on pitches in the shadow zone was uncharacteristically poor. Overall, his pitchers only earned strikes on 60% of their pitches. They gave up seven runs on 11 hits, four walks, and three homers. 

Yet, even in what was otherwise the worst defensive game of his young career, Valenzuela made the play of the night. Yankees catcher J.C. Escarra bunted a pop-up down the third base line. The ever athletic Valenzuela sprung to his feet and laid out for a sliding grab, the kind a catcher rarely has the opportunity to make. Despite the backwards somersault that knocked his helmet off his head, he held on to the baseball. Jeff Hoffman pumped his fist in celebration. Even the fans in the stands at Yankee Stadium were impressed.

My point? Valenzuela has been nothing short of phenomenal behind the dish for the Blue Jays this season. His latest outing against the Yankees wasn't the most prototypical example of his defensive skills, but nonetheless, his glove found a way to shine.

Valenzuela started the season with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. He only got the call to the majors when Alejandro Kirk hit the injured list eight games into the year. Then, he had to prove he deserved to be more than Tyler Heineman's backup. As a result, he has only played in 29 of Toronto's 48 games so far. His 203.2 defensive innings rank 27th among catchers. Despite that disadvantage, he leads his position in Statcast's Fielding Run Value (+6). He's tied for second in Defensive Runs Saved (+4). His framing has been spectacular, as has his ability to control the running game. The sample is small, but the company Valenzuela is keeping is elite:

Catcher	FRV
Brandon Valenzuela	6
Patrick Bailey	5
Adley Rutschman	5
Dillon Dingler	4
Carlos Narváez	4
Tyler Heineman	4
J.T. Realmuto	4

Truth be told, that one leaderboard is pretty much the whole reason I wanted to write this article. I saw Valenzuela sitting just ahead of Bailey, Rutschman, and Dingler, and I wanted to shout from the metaphorical rooftop that the Blue Jays have the best defensive catcher in baseball – and his name isn't Kirk or Heineman. 

Yet, Valenzuela deserves commendation for more than just his glove.

The switch-hitter has looked much more competent with the stick in May. He went 5-for-34 (.147) with one walk, one extra-base hit, and 14 strikeouts in his first three weeks with the Jays. Over the next three weeks, he hit .308 with three home runs, walking nearly as often as he struck out. His full-season OPS is up to a respectable .720. Both his wOBA and xwOBA sit right around league average. 

All told, Valenzuela's .233/.309/.411 slash line is nothing to write home about. But the difference between an elite defensive catcher who can hold his own against big league pitching and one who can't is massive. That's why Valenzuela is taking more and more playing time from Heineman. 

When the Blue Jays called up Valenzuela, all they were asking for was solid defense and a bat they could hide in the nine-hole of the order. They've gotten so much more. Since the day of his big league debut, Valenzuela ranks second among Blue Jays position players with 0.9 FanGraphs WAR. (Daulton Varsho is first with 1.2 fWAR.) That should tell you that the team has struggled, which you probably already knew. But it should also tell you how valuable Toronto's rookie catcher has been.

Can Valenzuela keep playing at this level? The jury is still out on that one. Right now, however, he's helping to keep the team afloat while almost everyone else around him is either slumping or injured (or a bit of both). Hopefully, Kirk will come back soon, and Valenzuela won't have to do this much longer. But no matter what he does going forward, the young backstop has already been a hero for the Blue Jays in 2026. 

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