Blue Jays place Alejandro Kirk on IL, recall Brandon Valenzuela, assign Patrick Corbin to Single-A

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CHICAGO (AP) — The Toronto Blue Jays placed two-time All-Star catcher Alejandro Kirk on the 10-day injured list on Saturday with a dislocated and fractured left thumb and recalled catcher Brandon Valenzuela from Triple-A Buffalo.

Kirk was injured in the 10th inning of a 5-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Friday when Austin Hays fouled a pitch off Kirk's glove. He left the game immediately and went for X-rays.

The Blue Jays also assigned 36-year-old left-hander Patrick Corbin to Single-A Dunedin on Saturday, a day after signing him to a one-year contract.

Manager John Schneider didn't have a timeline for Kirk's return but said before Saturday’s game in Chicago that the 27-year-old would see Dr. Thomas Graham, a hand specialist in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Monday to determine the next steps.

“(The thumb) was dislocated,” Schneider said. "They put it back in last night, as well as a fracture. So tough news for us and I think for Kirky for sure.

“They're going to see if they need to do any kind of surgical intervention or pin or something like that. We'll know that on Monday, and then kind of determine the timeline after that.”

As an All-Star in 2025, Kirk batted .282 with 15 homers and 76 RBIs in 130 games for AL champion Toronto. He played in all 18 of the Blue Jays' postseason games and hit .308 with two homers and six RBIs in seven World Series games against the Dodgers.

Kirk was batting .150 with one homer and two RBIs in five games this season.

The 25-year-old Valenzuela has yet to play in the majors, but he arrived in Chicago on Saturday and is expected to split time behind the plate with Tyler Heineman while Kirk is out.

In four games with Buffalo this season, he was batting .200 with one homer and four RBIs.

Corbin, a two-time All-Star in 13 major league seasons, was 7-11 with a 4.40 ERA for Texas last season. For his career, Corbin is 110-142 with a 4.51 ERA over 373 games including 354 starts.

Three Blue Jays starters — Shane Bieber, José Bérrios and Trey Yesavage — are currently on the injured list.

Schneider wasn't sure how long it would take Corbin to ramp up and return to the majors.

“I think definitely we view him as a starter or definite length option,” Schneider said. “I think until the dominoes kind of start to fall back into place with Trey and Josey and Biebs ... you look for length and how we can use it.”

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This headline has been corrected to show that Corbin is in Single-A, not Triple-A.

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