Kirk will have surgery on his fractured left thumb on Tuesday, Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters Monday.
“We’ll know the timeline after the surgery,” Schneider said.
Kirk was injured in Friday’s loss to the Chicago White Sox in the 10th inning when a foul tip clipped his catching hand behind the plate. Kirk’s thumb was dislocated on the play, as well, with the fracture coming near his knuckle.
He was placed on the 10-day injured list on Saturday, and rookie backstop Branon Valenzuela was recalled from triple-A Buffalo.
Kirk was slashing .150/.227/.350 with one home run through his first five games of the season.
The seven-year MLB veteran is coming off his second career all-star season in 2025, when he posted a .769 OPS and hit 15 homers in 130 games.
In other Jays injury news, Schneider said that injured starter Cody Ponce is meeting with doctors in Los Angeles on Monday to figure out the next steps regarding his knee injury. They are expecting an update on Ponce’s status on Tuesday.
Ponce suffered a right ACL sprain in his first start of the season with the Blue Jays when he fell to the ground chasing a ground ball and had to be carted off the field.
Meanwhile, Trey Yesavage will make another single-A rehab start with the Dunedin Blue Jays on Thursday.
Working his way through shoulder impingement, Yesavage made his first rehab start with Dunedin on Friday.
He gave up one run on one hit (an inside-the-park home run), struck out three and walked one in 2.2 innings against the Bradenton Marauders, a Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate.
Thirty of the 44 pitches Yesavage threw were for strikes.
The outing started a 30-day clock for the right-hander to return to the majors, but the Jays aren’t sure he’ll need that long.
Lastly, injured pitchers Jose Berrios, Yimi Garcia and Shane Bieber are all throwing sides on Tuesday, as is Patrick Corbin.
The Blue Jays and Corbin are still discussing where his next outing will be.
