{"id":99171,"date":"2025-04-13T21:21:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T01:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=99171"},"modified":"2025-04-13T21:21:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T01:21:02","slug":"gimenez-kirk-dynamic-duo-blue-jays-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/04\/13\/gimenez-kirk-dynamic-duo-blue-jays-lineup\/","title":{"rendered":"Dynamic Duo in Lineup Succeeding Early for Blue Jays"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An offensive dynamic duo is emerging in the Toronto Blue Jays lineup with Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez batting in front of Alejandro Kirk. Having the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/04\/02\/blue-jays-andres-gimenez-surprising-early-offense\/\" target=\"_self\">hot-hitting<\/a> new Blue Jay, who has proven his offensive worthiness early this season, bat in front of Kirk has proven effective in the lineup.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u201cThey\u2019re perfectly comfortable leaving [Andr\u00e9s] Gim\u00e9nez where he is&#8230; And I love [Alejandro] Kirk behind Gim\u00e9nez.\u201d<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DShulman_ESPN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@DShulman_ESPN<\/a> projects how the <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BlueJays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BlueJays<\/a>\u2019 batting order will change when Daulton Varsho returns with <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SNJeffBlair?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@SNJeffBlair<\/a> &amp; Kevin Barker.<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/mlbtheshow25?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#mlbtheshow25<\/a> | <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLBTheShow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@MLBTheShow<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EA4xyEBBV3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/EA4xyEBBV3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sportsnet 590 The FAN (@FAN590) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FAN590\/status\/1907145999459446974?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 1, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Kirk and Gim\u00e9nez Duo Working Well for Blue Jays<\/h2>\n<h3>Smart Hitter and Quick Runner<\/h3>\n<p>Given the speed Gim\u00e9nez possesses on the basepaths and his strong ability to get on base, he has dominated stealing bases early on. He recorded two in the Blue Jays&#8217; 7-6 victory in extra innings on Sunday, bringing him up to five on the season. Having <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/02\/16\/alejandro-kirk-named-blue-jays-full-time-catcher\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Kirk<\/a> bat after him in the lineup allows the former Cleveland Guardians&#8217; three-time Gold Glove winner to steal bases, with Kirk being a strong situational hitter.<\/p>\n<p>Kirk can drive in runs, and having a quick hitter followed by one who possesses decent power makes for a potent offensive combo. Gim\u00e9nez&#8217;s speed allows him to put pressure on both the defense and the pitcher, allowing for Kirk to work his magic at the plate with his pullside power. Gim\u00e9nez has the power to force pitchers to be hesitant and make them sweat on the mound, creating more chances for Kirk to capitalize.<\/p>\n<h3>Dynamic Duo<\/h3>\n<p>Kirk is also a smart hitter who knows how to take a pitch when Gim\u00e9nez is on base so that he can steal bases and put himself in scoring position. The speedster ranks in the 73rd percentile with a 27.8 % sprint speed this season. Overall, the lineup flow works well with Kirk and Gim\u00e9nez, and even when Daulton Varsho returns, the Blue Jays should consider leaving Kirk behind Gim\u00e9nez in the batting order. Kirk is a hitter who takes some time to heat up at the plate, but he has been working on improving his bat speed and exit velocity, which makes him a solid run producer.<\/p>\n<p>Kirk is normally dominant behind the plate but has shown some struggles early this season with passed balls. He will need to work on using his body to block pitches. This is so that he can stay in front of the ball, preventing it from getting past him. But Kirk has been solid with a 32.8% squared-up rate and a 13.3% strikeout rate. This comes as no shock, as Kirk is a type of hitter who rarely strikes out at the plate. Blue Jays fans are looking to see a rebound season from Kirk offensively to return to his stellar numbers from 2022.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Kirk and Gimenez have functioned as a strong duo in other ways. Kirk&#8217;s solid skills behind the plate and Gim\u00e9nez&#8217;s strong approach with tagging base runners are exciting to watch. The Blue Jays have successfully nabbed several base stealers already this season. This is an area where they have improved so far over the 2024 season. As the Blue Jays continue to play more games, it&#8217;s becoming more apparent how significant the Gim\u00e9nez signing was for the Blue Jays.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"WaaZC\">\n<div class=\"RJPOee EIJn2\">\n<div class=\"zMgcWd dSKvsb\" data-il=\"\">\n<div data-crb-p=\"\">\n<div class=\"xFTqob\">\n<div class=\"vM0jzc\">Photo Credit: \u00a9 Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"WaaZC\">\n<div class=\"RJPOee EIJn2\">\n<div class=\"rPeykc\" data-hveid=\"CB8QAQ\" data-ved=\"2ahUKEwiF176Lg9aMAxVMD1kFHRkiEtcQo_EKegQIHxAB\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An offensive dynamic duo is emerging in the Toronto Blue Jays lineup with Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez batting in front of Alejandro Kirk. Having the hot-hitting new Blue Jay, who has proven his offensive worthiness early this season, bat in front of Kirk has proven effective in the lineup. \u201cThey\u2019re perfectly comfortable leaving [Andr\u00e9s] Gim\u00e9nez where he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4831,"featured_media":99200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1071],"tags":[5091,3903,3243],"class_list":["post-99171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bluejays","category-mlb","tag-alejandro-kirk","tag-andres-gimenez","tag-catcher"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99171"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99202,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99171\/revisions\/99202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}