Jonah Heim Building Case to Stick Around Braves All Season

The Atlanta Braves have three shutouts so far this year, and they all have one common denominator. Jonah Heim has been the catcher.

Apart from one inning on Friday night, when the Braves had to forfeit the DH to get Baldwin behind the dish, Heim was out there navigating the team to a shut-down effort.

While his bat hasn’t made an impact in the lineup yet, he’s seeing his old defensive ways start to reemerge. He’s the backup catcher for now. He won’t be for most of this season, but it would be wise for the Braves to take him on the active roster throughout.

Heim still serves a purpose on this team, even when Sean Murphy returns. It’s clear that the intention is to get both Baldwin and Murphy in the lineup as much as they can once both are available. If one of them is the DH, then you need a third catcher option in case the team needs to make a defensive substitution.

When Baldwin came in on Friday, the Braves had to give up the DH. Dominic Smith entered the game to pinch hit for Robert Suarez, not Eli White. In turn, Raisel Iglesias technically took over for Smith on the mound, not Suarez. It’s a technicality, but it matters.

The double switch was a normal part of National League baseball for a long time. Some fans may want to see that strategy back. However, doesn’t mean managers have the same sentiment. It’s hard to imagine that Walt Weiss was eager to make a double switch. He did it out of necessity for one game. It was a tight game, and Heim’s bat isn’t there. He opted to roll the dice, and it ended up being a non-issue.

If the game had gone into extra innings, the Braves could have had some trouble. If a pinch hitter who batted for the pitcher is the automatic runner on second base the following inning, they’ll need a different pinch runner. That pinch hitter was already lifted for another pitcher. The Braves also have to worry about the bullpen, because they may not want to have the pitcher hit just to keep them on the mound.

Having a third catcher will avoid many of those issues. Heim is still a better option in the lineup if Baldwin or Murphy is lifted than a pitcher.

This was something I was stressing, even when it appeared the options would be Sandy León and Chadwick Tromp. It’s worth having a third catcher on the team. With the way Heim is looking behind the dish, it’s worth keeping him around.