its a pretty crazy performance so far, for sure.

legit super elite numbers across the board, topline and underlying.....and he's young for his current level.

Kirk might be the most unique prospect in baseball. If he can’t catch then he’s a DH.

All of the major prospect publications are basically just ignoring him. I’m not sure how long that they will be able to do that.

Heard varying reports on Kirk's catching skills, but did the same with Danny Jansen. Player Development spent a lot of time with Danny and he's been one of the best defensive catchers in the majors this year.

i've started to trust even the milb defensive numbers at least a little bit, and they show that Kirk was legit good to very good last year behind the plate, not even just ok.

FWIW, a close relatively recent (batting and position) comp to Kirk is Joe Mauer.  Obviously, you can't expect Mauer's career from Kirk. 

There is a lot of wrong information about players in the minors.

I remember RHP Zack Stewart. 6' 2" 205 lb with a fb that was about 95 mph. When he got promoted according to Alan Ashby he looked smaller and lighter with an 89-91 mph FB.
I don't know who had the correct info but Z Stewart was not successful.

All of the guys you mentioned Mike actually had a "Plan B" and that was 1B and all of the comps ended up playing a reasonable amount of 1B when they couldn't be a C. With Kirk's height that isn't an option. I do actually think that he's quite unique in that sense. FWIW I think that that also limits his prospect value. For example, he's probably close to untradeable to an NL team (not suggesting that they want to trade him).

Kirk won't turn 21 until November this year. At this rate, he'll be in AA by mid-July. A 20 year old catcher in AA (his third level of the season) is an exceptional prospect. At present, he has walked 27 times this season and only struck out 17 times. The kid can rake.

There is a lot of wrong information about players in the minors.

Yup. As famous as BA is, they aren't scouts, they talk to scouts, who may or may not know what they're talking about. Especially if the player in question wasn't the player they were actually keeping an eye on when watching games. Posted a Longenhagen report on Merryweather yesterday where he basically called the second hand reports he'd heard bs, because what he saw was much better than what he'd heard.

IIRC, BA was the one publication very down on Kirk. He was fat last year and I'm sure scouts who were keeping an other, more well known players could well have been immediately dismissive.

Here's a report I've posted a couple of times from last year. This guy (who used to work for BP) actually watched Kirk

"I saw Kirk play five games in July and August for Bluefield."

And his report sounds nothing like the second hand info I've heard.

"He moves well behind the plate ...a surprising athlete for a hefty body type. Kirk is an above-average receiver with quiet actions, soft hands, and advanced blocking ability. He throws well, recording numerous sub-1.90 pop times with a quick release. At the plate, his swing is aggressive but controlled and Kirk showed the best eye I saw this summer in the Appy League. As the power numbers would indicate, Kirk can really turn on a fastball with above-average raw power to the pull side. He has average hit/power upside."

Regarding A Kirk, he was signed Sept 24,2016 so his 1st season is 2017. He will need to be protected after 2021 so lots of time for him to trim down and improve everything. Offense and defense.

There could be pro scouts watching him play on the field. They should produce a report on his true size and ability. Old style baseball had a lot of cliches so reports could be misunderstood. This could lead to labeling a player.
I know that politeness and good manners are very important. So spitting on the field is not tolerated anymore. Scouting reports need to tell the harsh truth about a players strengths and weaknesses. For example a bat first catcher means that he can hit, take a walk etc... For me personally I need to be told that his defense is bad or good in very specific areas.

At the ML level the manager and coaches need to know who specifically is pitching against them. The more details the better. Is he a lefty or righty? What are his best pitches and approach. The batters have to be given this info so that they are not surprised when they are in the batters box. Of course the batter may not listen to his manager and coaches. See the ball, hit the ball works for some and not others.

"I remember RHP Zack Stewart. 6' 2" 205 lb with a fb that was about 95 mph. When he got promoted according to Alan Ashby he looked smaller and lighter with an 89-91 mph FB."

Zach Stewart was a great lesson to me.

All of his stats screamed non-prospect to me, but the scouting reports wouldn't stop talking about him like a top prospect. But back then I was much less confident in the numbers, and much more inclined to defer to the scouting reports.

I couldn't figure it out. But then I happened to go down to his MLB debut game, and dammit if he didn't just LOOK LIKE A BALLPLAYER out there. He totally did. He just looked strong, poised, confident, and smooth. Everything about him screamed ballplayer. And all the scouting reports finally made sense to me.

but he wasn't a ballplayer. not even close.

"He moves well behind the plate ...a surprising athlete for a hefty body type. Kirk is an above-average receiver with quiet actions, soft hands, and advanced blocking ability. He throws well, recording numerous sub-1.90 pop times with a quick release..."

That sounds downright Molina-like!!

Which Molina. Bengie? How about I Rod? He was short. Not sure about his weight.

With pitchers, some days they have it and some days they don't. Elite pitchers can usually work through it even on the few occasions they don't, but even they get rocked once in a while. Conversely, AAAA pitchers have days where everything is working and they look like a stud, but those days are few and far between.

The memory is dim, but I recall Law scouted Stewart (and Drabek) in the EL playoffs back in 2010. Stewart had it that day - every pitch was working. A scout next to Law even said he'd never seen his change (IIRC) that good ever. He looked like a future stud that day. But yeah, looking at his fairly pedestrian stats told a different story altogether.

A big turning point for some was when Jose Altuve was starting his ascent in the minors. I was listening to Kevin Goldstein (at the time of Baseball Prospectus) constantly talk about how good he was. It never mattered that this kid was 5'6". Yet, for some scouts, it would always matter. Baseball is a game that despite being a statistical machine, plays so heavily into 'the old ways' even now.

These are the players I root for the most. Kirk so far has shown he has great plate discipline, a good eye, and great hit tool.

David Laurilia on Jordan Groshans.  He definitely looks like a different hitter than he was when drafted. 

Jordan Groshans - "Wherever they put me, my plan is to rake."

Board man gets paid.

Griffin Conine with another homer and is showing huge power so far. He needs to go to do to Dunedin, despite some meh strikeout numbers.

Riley Adams strikeouts are out of control despite his strong triple slash numbers.