Jonah Heim out for at least two weeks, could end season
The All Star catcher has been placed on the ten-day injured list with left wrist pain, with the Dallas press saying that surgery may be needed.
No catcher in baseball has been as electric as Jonah Heim this season.
Let me say that again. No catcher in baseball has been as electric as Jonah Heim this season. Yes, Adley Rutschman, Will Smith, and JT Realmuto have had great seasons. But Jonah Heim has been on another level.
So it hits the Rangers hard when Heim is not behind the plate. Which is why the news that the Rangers have placed him on the ten-day injured list with wrist tendon pain has everyone in Arlington and beyond on tenterhooks.
Heim is hitting .280 with 14 home runs and a career-high 70 RBIs. His OPS is a healthy .816 in 90 games this season. In the fourth inning of Wednesday’s game against Houston, Heim injured his wrist while at bat and was removed from the game.
Jonah Heim has a splint on his left wrist in the clubhouse. He said it’ll be about 2-3 weeks of rest before deciding if he can play through the pain the rest of the season.
— kennedi landry (@kennlandry) July 28, 2023
Surgery will be an option, but whether that’s in season or in the offseason has yet to be seen
Mitch Garver will start behind the plate for the Rangers on Friday and Robbie Grossman will serve as the designated hitter.
Texas manager Bruce Bochy said in an interview after Wednesday’s game that Heim’s injury is unlikely to be a hamate bone injury, but the Dallas Morning News has reported that Heim will try and see if he can play through the pain, delaying treatment until the off season. But they have said that if he can’t do that, then “surgery is very much an option.”
The team will give him a few days off before trying to see what he can do. In any case, Heim will be out for another week or two, and if it is worst case, then his season may be over.
In the middle of the Rangers’ search for beefy arms in their rotation, losing the other half of their battery is not at all what they need, particularly at this stage of the season.