Blue Jays Call Up Top Prospect Gabriel Moreno -

Gabriel Moreno” width=”1024″ height=”639″ />”I’ve heard he’s the real deal,” Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse manager said of his team’s top prospect prior to his arrival to training camp in March.

This weekend, Montoyo and the rest of the Blue Jays’ organization will get a first-hand look at the No. 4 ranked prospect in all of baseball.

On Wednesday evening, the club made the announcement that 22-year-old Venezuelan catcher Gabriel Moreno had been recalled from Triple-A Buffalo Bisons for the upcoming weekend series in Detroit.

“Gabriel has been awesome,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said this week. “He’s continued to improve. He’s in a really good spot and he’s very much in the mix for us.”

With No. 1 catcher Danny Jansen going down with the broken finger after being hit by a wild pitch from Albert Abreu late in Monday’s 8-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals, the team quickly made the call to Buffalo for the services of Zack Collins. Having spent time with the team already this season, Collins’ transition from the Bisons to the Blue Jays shouldn’t take much effort, however, his role will certainly change now that news of Moreno’s recall has gone public.

With Jansen expected to miss at least two weeks of action, Toronto’s No. 2 catcher Alejandro Kirk – the 5-foot-7, 265-pound long-ball chipper – will move up to the top position, catching the majority of the team’s games over the next stretch. Kirk has not yet started a heavy stretch of action behind the plate, often coming in in bursts, while serving as the team’s designated hitter during his hot streak. Kirk has yet to start three-straight games this year.

Over the course of the season, Kirk owns a .322/.401/.477 line, including five home runs and a 16/21 K/BB ratio through 48 total games. Since May 2, the 23-year-old Kirk has 13 extra-base hits, 14 RBIs and a .376 batting average.

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He is not a bad option for the club to move forward with, while sharing time with Moreno, who is expected to get at least one start during the weekend set with the Tigers.

Moreno, on the other hand, who is just under two years younger than Kirk, is a strong batter, while also a great pitch framer behind the plate. He owns a .323 average and .783 OBPS over 35 games this year. Having joined the Blue Jays on a $25K contract back in 2016, Moreno has shown tremendous growth, to the point of being the team’s top prospect, and coming in as the No. 4 prospect in all of Major League ball.

Only 2 facts you need to know about Gabriel Moreno:

2nd youngest catcher in AAA

3rd highest average of any catcher in AAA

Build the effing hype. #NextLevel

— Chris Black (@DownToBlack) June 9, 2022

“When you get that call, enjoy it,” Atlanta Braves star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. told Moreno this past winter. “Enjoy the moment, it’s something you’ve worked your whole life for.”

Well, that call has come, and Moreno’s time to shine is now… or at least at some point this coming weekend. There is a slight possibility he starts Friday, but in all likelihood, he will get the nod behind the plate in Saturday or Sunday’s contests after having some time to build up a bit of a rapport with a few of the Jays’ starters.

“He’s just a fantastic kid, number one character is off the charts, teammates gravitate towards him, he’s a good worker, guys like playing with me,” said Joe Sclafani, Toronto’s director of player development said. “He raises his level of play of people around him. You just want to make sure that the development is still in a really good spot because it doesn’t stop even at the highest level.”

The Jays have an off-day on Thursday, beginning a 13-game-in-13-day stretch through June 22 that sees series’ against the Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox. Should Jansen return from his finger injury within the two-week timeframe initially estimated by Toronto’s medical team, that would be roughly the point in time where decisions would need to be made on Kirk, Collins and Moreno. But until now, the Blue Jays will get their first look at the future shot-caller behind the plate.