Atlanta Braves pitchers and catchers have officially reported to spring training and as it turns out, there’s another catcher who has joined the Braves for the first day of camp. I suppose that things
have been hectic down there in North Port because we didn’t get the usual Braves tweet with a block of white text on a navy blue background announcing their latest out-of-the-blue acquisition.
Instead, we got it the “old-fashioned” way: Via sources. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com was the first to report that the Braves had signed veteran catcher Jonah Heim to a one-year deal. We don’t have the financial numbers yet but MLB.com Braves beat writer Mark Bowman (who is in Florida to report on spring training, as usual) also confirmed that Heim was in camp, so this appears to be happening.
Jonah Heim was a free agent in the first place after he got non-tendered by the Texas Rangers following two underwhelming seasons. He hit .213/.271/.332 with a .266 wOBA and 69 wRC+ last season, which would be an acceptable amount of production for a catcher if their defense was good. Unfortunately for Heim, his defense was not good in 2025 as he graded below average in plenty of defensive catching metrics in 2025. This continued a trend from 2024 where his defense started to decline while putting up similarly anemic numbers at the plate as well.
However, Heim is not-that-far removed from a breakout season in 2023 where he hit .258/.317/.438 with a .324 wOBA, 107 wRC+ and 18 home runs. His defense was also excellent during that 2023 season, as he finished in the 92nd percentile of catchers when it came to Caught Stealing Above Average and in the 95th percentile in terms of Framing. If there’s an way that he can bounce back to anywhere approaching that level of performance behind the plate then whatever he does at the plate will at least be acceptable.
Either way, it sure seems like he’s got a very good chance of making the Opening Day roster as the backup. With Sean Murphy being out and the other two options being non-roster invitees in the form of Chadwick Tromp and Sandy León, Jonah Heim appears to be in the drivers’ seat to lock down a spot as the backup behind Drake Baldwin as we head into the regular season. He’ll still have to have a productive spring but even if things go sideways for him personally on the field, Baldwin should still benefit from being around an experienced catcher like Heim.
