A's Lineup vs. Phillies Tonight Reveals Who's Gone: Heim or Wynns

The A's added catcher Jonah Heim on Monday, but is he a short-term fill-in while Shea Langeliers is on paternity leave, or is he the new backup?

Sep 14, 2020; Seattle, Washington, USA; Oakland Athletics catcher Jonah Heim (37) hits an RBI-single against the Seattle Mariners during the third inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

The Athletics traded for Jonah Heim on Monday night, given the team's lack of viable minor-league catching depth options, even in a short timeframe. With Shea Langeliers expected to be out a couple of games on paternity leave, this will set up a question for this series: Will it be Heim or Austin Wynns that is on the roster this weekend?

The A's will have to pick one of them, and the other will be designated for assignment, and likely picked up by another team, so they have to make sure to make the right decision.

As we covered last night, Heim is the much better offensive player this season, but Wynns holds a big edge defensively — and he's been roughly league average himself.

Our take was that with the A's pitching staff being what is supposed to hold them back this season, they can't afford to have an even worse defender in the lineup even just twice a week. We landed on Wynns being the better option for the A's of the two, but recognizing that a change will still likely need to be made.

The A's look to be in agreement with that assessment, as Heim is not in the A's starting lineup on Tuesday.

What Tuesday's lineup tells us

Apr 18, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics catcher Austin Wynns (29) prepares to throw the ball during a run down during the sixth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Scott Marshall-Imagn Images | Scott Marshall-Imagn Images

The A's lineup on Tuesday is sure to anger a number of fans that were excited on social media following the team's acquisition of Heim on Monday evening.

SS Wilson

DH Brent Rooker

1B Nick Kurtz (L)

RF Colby Thomas

CF Zack Gelof

LF Tyler Soderstrom (L)

C Austin Wynns

2B Darell Hernaiz

3B Brett Harris

SP Luis Severino

Hernaiz is getting a start at second base in place of left-hander Jeff McNeil, as the A's load up on right-handed bats. Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez has struggled mightily against righties, as they've hit .331 against him.

The easy read is is that today's lineup means Heim is just here for a couple of days, until Langeliers returns, but we'll hedge just a little bit.

While Heim has been better against lefties than righties, Wynns has only been good against southpaws, so if you were going to play him in one of these three games, it would be this one. Wynns has gone 3-for-20 against left-handers, and 0-for-15 against righties. Heim is 6-for-24 and 3-for-15.

Today's matchup is the one in the series where Wynns makes sense, given his splits. With right-handers Zack Wheeler and Andrew Painter on the mound the next two days for the Phillies, the expectation is that Heim will be in the lineup for those two games, unless Langeliers returns early. If he misses one of those, it's time to close the door on Heim.