Jonah Heim Giving Texas Rangers Everything Behind Plate
Just 28 games into last season, Jonah Heim took over as the Texas Rangers’ front-line catcher after an injury to veteran Mitch Garver.
Just 28 games into this season, Heim is the front-line catcher and Garver has been out since mid-April.
The difference is in the details.
Heim had never been an everyday catcher before last season. The grind of getting the majority of the playing time was new, but offensively he was putting up some of the best numbers of his career.
This season Heim is doing exactly what the Rangers would have hoped from him — building on last year.
Entering Tuesday night’s game with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Heim is batting .303/.386/.592/.978 with five home runs and 22 RBI.
Heim punctuated that first month in the Rangers’ 15-2 win over the New York Yankees. While Josh Jung’s first-inning grand slam garnered the headlines, Heim went 3-for-4 with three RBI, two runs and a home run.
“The big days by Josh and Jonah really set the tone,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said.
Heim was one of the players acquired from the Oakland Athletics in the Elvis Andrus trade before the 2021 season. If there was a centerpiece in that deal, it was outfielder Khris Davis, who led the Majors with 48 home runs in 2018.
Davis played 22 games and batted just .167. The Rangers designated him for assignment by June.
Heim, meanwhile, earned a platoon job behind the plate with Jose Trevino and played in 82 games, but batted below .200.
The Rangers traded Trevino to the Yankees that offseason and traded for Garver, a former 30-home run hitter the Rangers envisioned as a platoon option with Heim that could provide more power. But Garver injured his right flexor tendon in April and his catching days last season were done.
Heim, at times, thrived in the full-time role, both at the plate and behind it. But by season’s end, he played in 127 games and batted .227 with 16 home runs and 48 RBI. All were career highs.
Heim said in January that he learned a lot from catching nearly every day last season. He lost seven pounds during the season, the result of that workload. In the offseason, he worked on his diet, added some lean muscle and scouted his new pitchers, including Nathan Eovaldi, whom he caught for the first time Saturday. Eovaldi threw a complete-game shutout.
“I thought Jonah did a great job back there, calling the game and framing those pitches,” Eovaldi said.
Bochy agrees. What he sees, with the improvement in Heim’s offense early this season, is a catcher whose game is growing in full.
“The metrics show he’s a good framer, good catcher, good blocker and good thrower,” Bochy said. “Now with the power I think he’s emerged as one of the better catchers in the game. That’s how good I think he is.”
More From SI’s Inside The Rangers:
- Texas Rangers New Nike City Connect Jersey Pay Homage to Dallas-Fort Worth
- Arlington Mayor Says Rougned Odor ‘Punch’ Mural to Stay
- Texas Rangers Clubhouse ‘Insane’ Says Reliever
- Texas Rangers MVP in 2023?
- Predicting Texas Rangers 2023 Record
- Jose Altuve Injury Potentially Helps Texas Rangers Playoff Chances
- MLB Plan for Television Texas Rangers
- Why did Bochy Tab deGrom for Opening Day?
- Bally Sports Southwest to Televise Nearly All Rangers Games
- Texas Rangers Unveil Exciting New Ballpark Food
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
