Veteran backstop Jonah Heim and the Braves have reached agreement on a one-year contract, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand on Tuesday. The team has not confirmed the deal.
Heim, 30, became a free agent when he was non-tendered by the Rangers on Nov. 21. He will provide an experienced back-up option behind reigning NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin while Sean Murphy begins the season on the injured list as he recovers from a right hip labral tear.
As recently as 2023, Heim was a central figure on a Texas team that won the World Series. He earned the starting nod behind the plate for the American League All-Star team that summer and finished the regular season with 4.0 WAR (per FanGraphs), ranking fourth on the Rangers.
The 2023 campaign stands as his best offensive season, as he hit .258 with 18 homers, 95 RBIs, a .755 OPS and a 106 OPS+ -- all career highs. Heim also won a Gold Glove Award after another outstanding defensive showing. He was one of the most valuable defenders in baseball from 2021-23, tying for fourth overall (and ranking second among catchers) with a fielding run value of +38 in that span.
But Heim regressed sharply on both sides of the ball in 2024 and was unable to bounce back in ’25. The veteran backstop recorded 24 homers, a .602 OPS and a 76 OPS+ in 924 plate appearances and had -4 fielding runs over those two seasons.
Heim had one year of team control remaining as an arbitration-eligible player, but Texas opted not to tender him a contract for 2026. He spent five seasons with the Rangers after being acquired from the Athletics in the February 2021 trade that also sent Khris Davis and Dane Acker to Texas for Elvis Andrus, Aramis Garcia and cash considerations.
Heim made his MLB debut with the Athletics in 2020, appearing in 13 games. His arrival on Aug. 25, 2020, came more than seven years after he was selected in the fourth round of the ’13 MLB Draft by the Orioles out of high school. Before reaching MLB, the New York native was traded twice and amassed more than 2,000 plate appearances in the Minors.