Kirk is first Mexican to play as catcher

Kirk, who made history by being the first Mexican catcher to play –and as a starter– in an All-Star Game this season, accomplished the feat that eight other Mexican catchers were unable to accomplish in their respective careers, in the first game of the Wild Card Series against the Seattle Mariners at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

In 2020, Kirk was in the Wild Card Series against the Tampa Bay Rays and played in one of the two games, but did so as a designated hitter, batting eighth and compiling one hit in three innings. Danny Jansen was Toronto’s catcher in the pair of games against the Rays, who took the series 2-0.

On Friday, Tijuana’s Kirk was fourth in the order at catcher and went 4-1, with one strikeout, which came against Sinaloa’s Andres Munoz in the ninth inning for the first out. Jansen was the Blue Jays designated hitter and batted eighth.

The first Mexican to reach the Major Leagues was Baldomero “Melo” Almada in 1933, but it was not until 1971 that the first Mexican-born catcher arrived and from then until Kirk in 2022, nine have played a total of 1,502 games behind the plate in the regular season, including the first in the playoffs.

The first to arrive was Francisco “Paquín” Estrada, who had his debut and farewell as the first Mexican-born catcher in the MLB when he played his only game in the Big League with the New York Mets on September 14, 1971.

A year later, on August 27, 1972, Sergio “Kalimán” Robles made his debut and although he played in part of three seasons, he only played a total of 16 games in the 1972, 1973 and 1976 campaigns, playing 15 games behind the plate with the Baltimore Orioles (9) and Los Angeles Dodgers (6).

Six seasons later, on September 11, 1978, came the Mexican catcher with the most games played at that position in MLB of all time, Alejandro Treviño -today a Spanish-language analyst for the Houston Astros-, who stayed for 13 seasons with the Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Astros, Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves.

Treviño played a total of 939 games without missing a year until 1990, 742 of which were as a catcher, but never played in the postseason.

Five years after Treviño’s retirement, Noé Muñoz arrived with the Dodgers on April 30, 1995 to play only two games as a backup catcher, as he left for his second and final game on May 14.

On September 8, 2001, catcher Gerónimo Gil arrived and stayed for six seasons with the Orioles and Colorado Rockies, playing a total of 272 games behind the plate, to become the second Mexican catcher with the most games played at the position.

One day after Gil’s debut, on September 9, 2001, Humberto Cota made his debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates for seven seasons–second best among Mexican catchers–but played only 163 games as a catcher.

On May 17, 2003 Miguel Ojeda made his debut with the San Diego Padres to play four years in the Major Leagues for a total of 212 games, 168 of which were as a catcher–he also played for the Rockies, Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners.

Nine years later appeared on September 16, 2012 Roman Ali Solis also with the Padres to play two years a total of 10 games as a catcher, two with San Diego and eight more with the Rays in 2014.

Kirk debuted with Blue Jays on September 12, 2020 playing seven games at catcher, the second to do so as a starter in his first game after Gil in 2001. In 2021 he was 44 games behind the plate and this year played 78 as a catcher. In total he has 208 games played in three seasons.