Once Upon A Heim
Jonah Heim (TEX): 2-5, HR, R, 2 RBI.
Heim was a well-regarded option at the catcher position coming into the season as the primary backstop on the World Championship-winning team. Despite a pedestrian .258/.317/.438 slash line last year, he led all catchers with 95 RBI and fell just shy of 20 home runs. Heim was a clutch hitter, slashing .294/.352/.505 with runners on base and an even stronger .375/.421/.705 with runners in scoring position. Those were some of the best marks in the league among all hitters though likely unsustainable year-over-year. Combined with a career-high .289 BABIP, many expected regression from Heim.
Many are still waiting.
Heim continued his scorching start to the season Thursday with two hits against the Tigers, including a 375-ft home run (104.8 EV). It was his third homer of the season and his sixth-straight game with a hit. He’s slashing .279/.300/.456 with a .332 wOBA. He still is at his best when it matters most, slashing .343/.361/.457 with runners on base and .350/.350/.500 with runners in scoring position.
That was the case again Thursday as Heim went down out of the zone to grab a slow splitter and deposit it over the right-field wall. That drove home two runs, including Wyatt Langford who had doubled to open the frame, and extended the Rangers’ lead to 4-0 in the second inning. Heim added a single in the third inning—another hit with a runner on base.
Can he keep it up? Probably not. His BABIP has ballooned to .327 and his expected batting average is about 50 points lower than his actual stats. But playing for the Rangers is a great boost and he will likely get more chances than the average hitter to make meaningful contributions. For a player often taken around pick 200, he’s almost guaranteed to outpace his ADP.
Let’s See How the Other Hitters Did Thursday
Marcus Semien (TEX): 3-6, 2B, HR, 2 R, RBI.
Add three more hits for Semien. He’s hitting .286/.355/.464 with 17 RBI and 16 runs scored and shows no signs of slowing down in his age-33 season. His home run Thursday was his third of the season and came on the third pitch of the game. It was not a good pitch from Maeda, who hung an 89 mph four-seamer high in the zone that Semien sent into the bullpens at 100.6 mph. The home run would have died at the warning track in 16 of the 30 major league parks, but we take those. Semien added a single and a double in his next two at-bats, falling a triple short of the cycle.
Riley Greene (DET): 2-4, 2B, 3B, 2 R, RBI, BB.
Greene is showing encouraging signs. He is among the league leaders with 4.39 pitches seen per plate appearance and his 19.3 BB% is second only to Juan Soto. He has a career-low 40.9 Swing % but makes each swing count with a 15.6% barrel rate. If he can swing more while maintaining that quality of contact, Greene could be on the cusp of a real breakout. Thursday’s game was a step in the right direction. Both of his hits went for extra bases. His triple was an impressive bit of hitting as he reached low out of the zone and ripped the ball off the centerfield wall at 104.2 mph. A couple feet higher and we would’ve been talking about Greene’s fourth homer of the season.
Jarren Duran (BOS): 1-4, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, SB.
Duran enjoyed the four-game series against Cleveland, going 5-for-17 with three runs, two RBI, and a stolen base. Most of that damage came Thursday. He didn’t miss on a flat 94 mph heater straight down the heart of the plate that split the perfect gap in right center for an easy two-RBI triple. He also drew a walk in the first inning and stole his seventh base of the season. It was his first steal in 14 games and puts him two off the league lead.
Adolis García (TEX): 2-5, HR, R, RBI.
García hit a solo home run to break a 4-4 tie in the top of the third inning. The ball left his bat at 103 mph and needed every bit of that power to sneak into the bullpens over the left-center wall. It was the fifth home run of the season for García. He added a single in the seventh. He came into the game on a cooler, going 2-for-12 in the previous four contests. That hasn’t taken away from what has been an amazing start. He’s slashing .311/.361/.568 with 14 runs, 18 RBI, and four steals.
Javier Báez (DET): 2-5, 2 2B, R, RBI.
Báez had the two hardest hits in a game that featured 16 runs and three homers. Both of his hits (108.8, 109.1 EVs) were doubles. Don’t look now, but Báez is 5-for-18 (.278) over his past five games. That’s nothing exciting for the average player, but the bar is a bit lower for Báez. More shocking, he has struck out just once over the past seven games. All of this would be more interesting if the overall quality of contact metrics were even remotely impressive. Don’t get fooled.
Amed Rosario (TBR): 2-4, 3B, R, RBI.
Rosario got the end of the bat on a high-and-away four-seamer for a 95.5 mph liner down the first-base line in the opening inning to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. He came home on a sac fly from Harold Ramírez and that is all the offense the Rays would muster and all the offense they would need in a 2-1 win over the Angels. The triple was slightly misplayed by outfielder Mickey Moniak after a funny corner bounce, but the speedy Rosario (29.2 ft/sec sprint speed) would have been hard to stop either way.
Mike Trout (LAA): 0-3, R, BB, 2 SB.
It was just the fourth game this season that Trout failed to record a hit, but he drew a walk in the sixth inning and proceeded to steal both second and third base before scoring on a sac fly. Trout had just six stolen bases combined over the previous four seasons and hasn’t had multiple thefts in a game since May 20, 2018. His two stolen bases Thursday give him five swipes already this season. Trout also is tied for the league lead in home runs (eight). Reports of his demise decline have been greatly exaggerated.
Jung Hoo Lee (SFG): 2-4, R.
Lee extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a pair of singles. During that streak, Lee has a .349 batting average and .348 wOBA. Of his 15 hits in that time, only two have gone for extra bases, leading to a .395 slugging percentage and .047 ISO. Lee has a quality swing with a 90.8 mph average EV and 46.5% hard-hit rate. The problem is a low 5.7-degree average launch angle leading to a surging groundball rate of over 50%.
Yandy Díaz (TBR): 2-4.
Díaz has struggled to begin the season. Even after Thursday’s two-hit performance, Diaz is slashing just .225/.276/.313. It was the second straight two-hit game for the Rays’ leadoff man who has raised his batting average from .196 to .225 over the past week. We could be seeing him emerge from the slump. He looked strong at the plate Thursday. His first single in the third inning came off the bat at 103.1 mph, and then in the eighth he was robbed of extra bases by a diving Anthony Rendon on a ball smoked down the third base line.
Would you rather play Heim or MJM at catcher?