ARLINGTON — There are many questions for which the Rangers don’t seem to have answers this season, but this may be the biggest mystery of all: How does a 29-year-old catcher fall from being perhaps the best in the American League one year to quite possibly the worst in the course of one season.
But that’s what the numbers say about Jonah Heim’s 2024 season.
The Rangers have tried everything they can to get Heim, last year’s All-Star starter and Gold Glove winner, turned around. Nothing has produced results. And it would be one thing to be talking about merely offensive issues. His defense, statistically speaking, has also regressed. Defense should be more impervious to extended “slumps” than offense.
Heim was out of the starting lineup for Friday’s 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. His pinch-hit fly out ended the game in the ninth inning, Heim now mired in a 1-for-21 stretch. The slump has led to a .605 OPS for the season, lowest in the majors among all players with at least 400 plate appearances. It is a staggering drop-off of 150 points from a year ago. But the decline doesn’t end there. Catchers aren’t expected to be offensive forces, but Heim’s pitch-framing, considered elite, has fallen badly. He was third in the majors last year at +10 in framing runs saved. This year: 37th of 57 at -2. In the FanGraphs defensive formula, he has fallen from No. 5 in the majors to No. 24 of 30.
Put it together and you get a guy whose WAR has fallen from 4.0, considered All-Star caliber on FanGraphs chart, to -0.5. For context, the website lists 0-1 WAR players as “scrubs.”
The Rangers do not believe Heim is a “scrub,” but there is no denying, manager Bruce Bochy said, that there is work to be done.
“Sometimes the numbers are not completely accurate,” Bochy said. “But, you know, when it’s this extreme, OK, yeah, there is room for improvement. I don’t have a real good answer. But he is one of the best; he showed that last year. It’s gotten a little bit away from us.”
Bochy did say that the Rangers have changed his setup behind the plate slightly, which might be causing him some receiving issues. He’s moved more to the middle of the plate to give pitchers a bigger area of the strike zone to work with.
There are plenty of theories to account for other issues. Perhaps his wrist, which he injured last season, has become an issue. Perhaps Heim never really got rested after his arduous playoff run last October, catching every game of the postseason. Perhaps his offensive troubles have carried over to the defensive side. Bochy dismissed them all.
“I don’t buy that, because he does separate the two,” Bochy said of the offense and defense. “He takes a lot of pride in the defense. He’s pretty proud of winning a Gold Glove.
“He knows what his job is and what his priority is. So I don’t think that’s the case. I’ll just add this: We all have down years. I know we’ve had a few this year.”
Most recently, the Rangers have tried giving him more rest. Carson Kelly, acquired at the trade deadline, started behind the plate Friday for the 16th time in the last 33 games. It has not, however, sparked Heim’s bat. Since the Rangers acquired Kelly, Heim is slashing only .167/.221/.319/.540 in 77 plate appearances.
Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant
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