What Happened To Heim? Texas Rangers Catcher’s Drop-Off One of Season’s Biggest Mysteries

Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim has been unable to build on his impressive 2023 All-Star season.

Aug 25, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) is tagged out at home by Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim (28) during the third at Progressive Field. / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

ARLINGTON — By any metric, this version of Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim is nothing like the 2023 version of Jonah Heim.

The mystery is why?

“We’ve all had down years,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “I know we've had a few (players) this year that have not had their normal years, or the year that they had the previous year, and  Jonah is one of them, both behind the plate and on offense.”

The bat sticks out because that’s what many fans pay more attention to.

Entering Friday’s game he was batting .220 with 12 home runs and 53 RBI, which was before he flew out in a pinch-hit appearance in Friday’s game. He had a .268 on-base percentage and a .337 slugging percentage.

This homestand, which started last Friday, has not been kind to him either. He’s 1-for-18 with the only hit being a home run.

The Rangers traded for Carson Kelly at the deadline for offensive help. The former Detroit Tigers receiver is batting .249, but his on-base percentage (.325) and slugging percentage (.388) are higher than Heim’s. He doesn’t have quite the power numbers, with eight home runs and 36 RBI.

Last year Heim had a slash line of .258/.317/.438/.755 with 18 home runs and 95 RBI, all career highs, as the Rangers won the World Series. He was also among the best catchers behind the plate and won his first Gold Glove.

His work behind the plate may be more distressing than the bat.

While the Rangers have a winning record with him behind the plate (51-46), he has only thrown out 12 of 95 attempted base stealers this year, or 12.6%. A look at Statcast shows that Heim has a run value of minus-4 and a framing value of minus-2.

Last year he threw out more than 30% of baserunners, had a run value of +13 and a framing value of +10.

Bochy says part of the drop-off is how they’ve asked Heim to position himself behind the plate. With younger pitchers, he’s being asked to frame his glove more in the middle to help those pitchers with location.

That means more strikes, which is what the Rangers want. But it can also make things a bit more difficult for Heim when it comes to throwing runners out. That could impact his pop value, which is how long it takes him to turn it around to second base. That time is 1.97, but that’s good for only 31st in the Majors.

“So that can affect that numbers,” Bochy said. “Why? Well, because we weren't we knew we were trying to help out these pitchers, and especially younger guys, you know, because we want strikes.”

Bochy said that Heim hasn’t expressed any residual issues related to last year’s wrist injury nor does he believe fatigue is an issue after a long postseason.

He does know this — Heim’s mindset about the job hasn’t change.

“He does separate the two (batting and receiving),” Bochy said. “He does take a lot of pride in it, winning that Gold Glove so he knows what his job is and what his priority is.”