Jonah Heim

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Jonah Nathan Heim

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Biographical Information[edit]

Catcher Jonah Heim was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 4th round of the 2013 amateur draft, from Amherst High School, located near Buffalo, NY. He moved around a few times before making his major league debut. being first traded to the Tampa Bay Rays on August 1, 2016 in return for OF/1B Steve Pearce. A year and a half later, in December of 2017, he was traded again, this time to the Oakland Athletics as the player to be named later in an earlier trade for IF Joey Wendle.

It was with the Athletics that Heim made his major league debut during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, hitting .211 in 13 games. Following the season, he was involved in what was already his third major league trade, going to the Texas Rangers along with OF Khris Davis in return for SS Elvis Andrus and fellow catcher Aramis Garcia. Davis turned out to be a bust, his productive days already over by then, but Heim settled down nicely with the Rangers. As a rookie in 2021, he played 82 games and while he hit only .196, he played good defense and also contributed 13 doubles and 10 homers. He claimed the starting job in 2022 when he improved to .227 in 127 games, with 16 homers and 48 RBIs, his OPS+ rising from 62 to 97. Combined with his strong throwing arm and game-calling ability, that made him a solid contributor.

He continued to improve in 2023 when the Rangers added some outstanding front-line pitchers in Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, helping them to take a big step forward as a team during the first few weeks of the season. On June 3rd, he showed the importance of being lucky and not just good, when one of his worst throws ever resulted in a put-out at the plate. With runners on the corners and two outs in the 4th, Julio Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners took off for second on a stolen base attempt. Heim's throw to second was awful, bouncing on the ground inside the infield, and reaching the shortstop position. Luckily, it was 2B Marcus Semien who was covering the bag, and not SS Corey Seager, and when José Caballero saw the awful throw, he attempted to score from third base, only to be nailed at the plate on a perfect throw from Seager to Heim, ending the inning. The Rangers went on to win the game, 16-6. He was voted the starting catcher for the American League in the 2023 All-Star Game, defeating Adley Rutschman of the Baltimore Orioles in the fan vote. He finished the season at .258 in 131 games, with 18 homers and 95 RBIs, and basically started every day down the stretch as the Rangers were locked in a head-to-head battle with the Houston Astros for the division title. His OPS+ for the season was 103, and he won a Gold Glove as the best defensive catcher in the American League. The Astros won the divisional battle, but the Rangers won the war, as they not only defeated their cross-state rivals in the ALCS, but went on to win the whole shebang, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series. Heim started every game of the postseason, hitting .212 with 3 homers and 8 RBIs in the 17 games.

He was both the goat and the hero for the Rangers on Opening Day in 2024. Against the visiting Chicago Cubs on March 28th, the game was tied 2-2 in the 9th when with two outs and men on first and second, pinch-hitter Miles Mastrobuoni flailed at a low outside pitch from José Leclerc. The ball got away from Heim, but he did not go to retrieve it, instead arguing with home plate umpire Chad Fairchild that Mastrobuoni had tipped the ball; meanwhile, Michael Busch came all the way from second to score the go-ahead run, and since this was not a play that could be reviewed, the fact that television replays showed that Heim had been right was of little comfort. Luckily for him, the Rangers tied the game thanks to a pinch homer by Travis Jankowski in the 9th, and in a perfect Hollywood script, Jonah got to redeem himself in the 10th when he came up against Drew Smyly with the bases loaded and two outs, and pushed a ball to the gap in right-center for the game-ending hit.

Notable Achievements[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

  • Kennedi Landry: "'What an opener': Heim gets redemption with walk-off winner", mlb.com, March 29, 2024. [1]

Related Sites[edit]

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