The Toronto Blue Jays have lost their starting catcher in the middle of a wild-card chase. Danny Jansen was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right middle finger fracture, the team announced Saturday. He suffered the injury when he was hit by a foul tip during Friday's win over the Colorado Rockies (TOR 13, COL 9).
"It's a pretty freak injury and it seems like those are coming in bunches right now," Blue Jays manager John Schneider told the Associated Press after the game.
Here's the injury. Jansen remained in the game to complete the inning before being replaced.
Jansen had taken over as Toronto's starting catcher in recent weeks. Friday night was his eighth start behind the plate in the last 11 games and his 20th start in the team's last 33 games. Jansen is hitting .228/.312/.474 with 17 home runs in 301 plate appearances this year, including .230/.368/.494 in the second half.
With Jansen sidelined, the Blue Jays will likely lean heavily on Alejandro Kirk, who is hitting .257/.333/.358 a year after going to the All-Star Game with a .285/.372/.415 slash line. Kirk is a good backup plan, though obviously he is not having the season he had in 2023. Tyler Heineman was called up to fill Jansen's roster spot.
At 74-61, Toronto enters play Saturday 1.5 games behind the Texas Rangers for the third American League wild-card spot. They recently lost third baseman Matt Chapman to a finger injury suffered in the weight room. Bo Bichette is sidelined with a quad injury as well.
