Tom Krasovic: Tijuana’s Dodger-killing catcher is the World Series hero San Diego needs

Thank you and muchas gracias, baseball gods, for sending us Tijuana’s Alejandro Kirk.

Kirk and several of his Toronto Blue Jays have made the World Series more than another display of boom-or-bust hitting.

The Jays put the ball in play, even if it means swinging with less gusto.

The favored Los Angeles Dodgers, meanwhile, have induced tedium with long stretches of swinging — and often missing — from their heels.

Playing a broader style of baseball, Kirk’s Jays lead the best-of-seven series three games to two heading into Friday’s Game 6 in Toronto.

This, too: they’ve caused many Americans to fall for Canada’s team.

“I didn’t know the Blue Jays were as good as they are,” said Chris Gwynn, a former Major League outfielder, scout and farm system director. “But I enjoy watching them play.”

Padres fans have a World Series hero to adopt in Kirk, a 5-foot-8, 245-pound Tijuana native who signed with the Jays following a showcase at the Tijuana Toros’ home ballpark.

As a catcher, the savvy Kirk has clicked with Jays pitchers. Together, they’ve frustrated L.A.’s star-laden, power-stocked offense.

Several Dodgers hitters have chased numerous pitches out of the strike zone. Kirk’s pitch-blocking skills embolden Jays pitchers to flirt with wild pitches. They are firing a high number of split-finger fastballs, many of them into the dirt, and other “chase” pitches.

Rather than test Kirk’s powerful throwing arm, Dodgers baserunners have attempted just one steal in the five games.

But it’s the bat control displayed by the 26-year-old Kirk — and teammates such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Ernie Clement — that has kept this World Series from wallowing in home runs and strikeouts.

Like many Jays hitters, Kirk isn’t trying to jack home runs on most of his swings. He’s K-averse, belying the two Ks in Kirk. Advantaged by short arms, he has a simple and repeatable swing. And he’s not too proud to throttle down, another factor in his low strikeout rate across a five-year career.

But Kirk, the team’s No. 5 hitter, also can crush a pitch that he likes. He has homered twice in five World Series games, leading to two Toronto wins. Counting his four singles and five walks, Kirk is batting .333 with a .458 on-base percentage in his first Fall Classic.

In Game 1, Kirk was so World Series-comfortable that he pulled off a good imitation of Yogi Berra, the 5-foot-7 Yankees Hall of Fame catcher whose bat-to-ball skills left teammates in awe.

His first time up, Kirk earned a nine-pitch walk. Next came a line single off the eighth pitch. An opposite-field single followed, then a two-run home run.

Dodgers hitters, in contrast to the Jays, have given away numerous at-bats. They’re batting .201 with 55 strikeouts through five games.

Mookie Betts, L.A.’s No. 2 hitter, looked tired to Gwynn, who guessed that the former right-fielder, 33, is feeling the considerable mental and physical attrition of a full season at shortstop.

Many other Dodgers hitters, meantime, have stirred up the air and not much else.

“I’m tired of watching all these dudes swinging as hard as they can,” Gwynn said. “It’s not easy by any means. But, it’s just tough to watch.”

Batting .261 with 11 fewer strikeouts and only one fewer home run than the Dodgers, Jays hitters have shown that their contact-driven style can work in the World Series.

Toronto has won the past two games despite losing slugger George Springer to a Game 3 injury from which he hasn’t returned. Their hitting approach has impressed Gwynn.

“Put it in play, be under control,” he said. “When you get your count and get your pitch you’re looking for, they’re just not missing.

“You get to a certain point when you’re playing, that you figure out you don’t have to swing hard to hit the ball hard. But the forces are working against you. It’s the World Series. Adrenaline (flows).”

Neither Gwynn nor anyone else in baseball would advocate against finding a pitch to hit and putting a powerful swing on it. After all, the past four World Series champions finished in the top five in home runs.

And besides, the Jays do have good home run power, tying for 11th this season.

But in numerous instances, there’s value to merely putting the ball in play.

And Kirk, when he was just 17 years old, displayed bat-to-ball skills that startled a veteran scout.

The right-hander’s knack for making solid contact was a key factor, although not the only one, in Jays special assignment scout Dean Decillis becoming quickly enamored with Kirk.

The scout initially visited the Tijuana Toros’ 17,000-seat stadium on that August 2016 day to see a catcher other than Kirk.

But as the action unfolded, Kirk changed Decillis’ plans.

“It started to be, ‘I like Kirk’s swing better than the guy that I’m here to see,’” Decillis told writer David Singh of Canada’s Sportsnet. “And then it started to be, ‘I think Kirk throws better than the guy that I’m here to see.’ And then, by about the fourth inning, it was, ‘I think he actually catches better than the guy that I’m here to see.’”

The Blue Jays vetted Kirk further and came away convinced they had to sign him. Toronto quickly completed a $30,000 deal with the Toros, Kirk’s Mexican League team.

Four years later, the catcher made his big-league debut. By 2022, Kirk had become an All-Star who batted .285 with 14 home runs and had more walks (63) than strikeouts (58). Two so-so offensive seasons followed, but this year, Kirk hit .282 with 15 home runs. His adjusted OPS was 11% better than the Major League average.

The better Kirk-San Diego story, of course, would’ve been for Kirk to end up with the Padres.

But Padres scouts weren’t alone in missing out on Kirk. Decillis said the Jays were the only team in on the stocky catcher.

If Kirk gets a champagne shower this week in Toronto, however, no one in Padres Land will be upset about not signing him before the Jays got to him.