Centerfield isn’t the only position where there seems to be a battle on this 2025 Rangers roster (although in center, it’s mostly the backup role, assuming Carter’s back holds up).
The Rangers also have a battle of sorts going on at catcher. What was Jonah Heim’s position since they traded away Jose Trevino after the 2021 season is now open to interpretation.
Since 2022, Heim has been the primary catcher for the Rangers. In 2023, he was the starting catcher in the All-Star game based on his bat and his defensive metrics. It looked like he had turned the corner. Then it all came crashing down to Earth in 2024. As the JustBaseball.com website pointed out, Heim went from “All-Star and Gold Glover…to below average receiver and hitter in one year’s time.”
Now, the Rangers don’t know which version of Heim they will be getting in 2025. That might explain why they signed veteran catcher Kyle Higoshioka to a two-year deal. It’s that second year that makes you take pause and wonder, wait, maybe the position belongs to Higoshioka now.
Of course, manager Bruce Bochy and the front office are saying the right thing: they still love what Heim brings to the table and Higoshiaka is here just to help him out, maybe they split time.
But Heim is the quintessential first-half hitter. In every season, he falls off a steep cliff at the plate in the second half. Here are, in fact, his career splits, first half to second half.
Just looking at batting average alone, he falls off 70 points. Everything else offensively is a steep drop as well. Last season he went from .242 in the first half to .182 in the second. In his All-Star, breakout year, he was even worse, plummeting from .282 to .217. His 2022 splits: .262/.181.
Defensively, Heim ranked seventh out of all major league catchers in 2023 according to FanGraphs frame rate numbers. In 2022, he was second. Last year, you have to look way down the list. No, even further. Further yet.
Again, as JustBaseball.com asks, “How did one of the greatest defensive catcher over a two-year period turn into one of the worst?” Maybe it was just a bad season. These guys are human, after all. What goes on off the field affects them on the field.
Two things are clear, though: One, whether his defensive drop was a fluke, there’s no denying his yearly offensive second-half disappearance. Two, while Higoshioka is considered a glove-first catcher, his career offensive numbers are only a slight tick below Heim’s, a career OPS+ of 81 compared to Heim’s 87. Heim, five years younger at 29, is a below average career hitter.
Oh, and then the Rangers signed Tucker Barnhart in the offseason as well. He’s won two Gold Gloves, and his career OPS is higher than Heim’s.
So, it seems Heim might be the third-best catcher the Rangers have. Go figure.
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