The Rangers' future at catcher is cloudy at best.
The Rangers' farm system is underwhelming at a lot of positions. Catching might be the most underwhelming.
When the Rangers' coaching changes began at the end of the season, catching coordinator, Bobby Wilson was one of the first to leave the organization. By all accounts, Wilson was highly thought of around the league. One of the things that helped his career as a catcher was pitch framing. Teaching the art of it carried over into his coaching career.
From 2021 to 2025, the Rangers were 3rd in catcher framing runs. This is a catcher’s runs saved from gaining extra strikes. Catcher Framing Runs converts a catcher’s called strikes to runs saved on a .125 runs per strike basis.
The ABS system is coming to MLB in 2026. You start with two challenges per game. You don't lose your challenges as long as you win them. Long story short, pitch framing is going to lose it's value.
The Rangers' Catcher Caught Stealing Above Average was 27th in MLB during the Bobby Wilson era. The game changed in 2023, when new rules were implemented to limit pick off attempts. Steals have become a big part of the game again, and will be going forward. Teams attempted 115 steals on Texas. The Rangers threw out only 16 of them. That's 14 % . This might be one of the reasons Bobby Wilson wasn't asked to stick around.
Both Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka were near the bottom of the league in Pop Time to 2B in 2025. That is the time from when the ball hits the catcher's mitt, to the time the throw hit's its intended target. The MLB Average is 2.00.
If it felt like teams were stealing at will. It's because they were. To be fair, steals are not all on the catchers. The pitcher also plays a part in it. However, if you throw strikes and limit walks, teams are not going to care much about a pitchers ability to hold runners on.
Heim is eligible for arbitration and probably will not be here when spring training starts. Jonah Heim's bat has not regressed contrary to popular belief. The truth is, he had a fluke offensive season in 2023. While his bat is a liability, Heim has regressed behind the plate. Stolen bases are a big reason why. In 2023, he threw out 29% of baserunners. Since then his caught stealing percentage is 16%. He has allowed 157 steals the last two seasons. One thing that should not be forgotten about Heim, he played through a lot of pain at the end of 2023 to stay in the fight to get into the playoffs and eventually help Texas win the World Series.
Higashioka is under contract for the 2026 season. Anything can happen in the off season, but I suspect he will be here when the season starts. His OPS in the second half of the season was .738.
The solution to the Rangers catching issues is probably not in free agency. The word is that the Rangers will be limited in what they spend in the offseason. A possible solution could be Willie Maclver.
Willie was claimed off waivers from the A's last week by the Rangers. In the minors, he has a career caught stealing percentage of 31 %. His offensive numbers were pretty decent as well for a catcher, hitting for a .264 Avg, .351 OBP, and a .792 OPS. When he was finally called up to the big league roster by the A's last season, he was hitting .362 at AAA Las Vegas. Willie was also selected to play in the 2021 Futures Game. He's 28 years old. Sometimes it takes catchers awhile to develop. In my opinion, this was a great waiver claim by Texas.
Maybe the Rangers can check in with the Baltimore Orioles on Adley Rutschman. After Baltimore gave Samuel Basallo an 8 year 67 million dollar extension during the season after only playing 31 games, they may be open to listen to offers for Rutschman, who had a down year in 2025. Adley can not be a free agent until 2028.
Clearly not the solution is the Ranger's farm system. Developing position players in the minors is not the Rangers' strong point. They have produced two drafted position players (Gallo and Jung) that have become All Stars for Texas since Kipp Fagg took over as Scouting Director in 2009.
Since 2019, the Rangers have drafted 10 catchers. The best prospect of the bunch was Liam Hicks. He was traded to the Tigers for Carson Kelly at the trade deadline in 2024. He made his MLB debut in 2025 with the Marlins.
In 2024 the Rangers drafted 4 catchers. The Rangers took Malcolm Moore in the first round. After having a .967 OPS his final year at Stanford, Moore has a .604 OPS in 87 games in the minors. Moore's season got off to a slow start in 2025 due to injury, but at A + ball this season, his OPS was .564. He's threw out 18% of runners at the same level. Don't read to much into that. There a a lot more steals and attempts in the minors. Moore is only 22, there is still time for things to turn around for him on both sides of the plate. He needs a full injury free season.
Ben Hartl was taken in the 14th round of the same draft. He is also 22. In 96 minor league games, he has .726 OPS. He has also thrown out 23% of base runners attempting to steal. The Rangers desperately need one or both of these the guys to step up.
Ian Moller, Tucker Mitchell, Julian Brock, Josh Springer and Noah Franklin, round out the rest of the catchers drafted during this time period that signed with the organization. Ian Moller had 1 error at Frisco in 2025. He threw out 24 % of base runners attempting to steal. So far in their professional careers, Moller, Mitchell and Brock have all been a little lack luster offensively and have room to improve on their offensive capabilities.
Josh Springer is 19, in 2025 between the ACL and A ball, he hit .268 with a .364. He threw out 25 % of baserunners. Noah Franklin is 19 and was taken in the 17th round of the 2025 draft. He has yet to see any official minor league action.
Malcolm Moore is the only one of these guys listed in the Rangers Top 30 prospects list at 10. The Rangers farm system as a whole is ranked near the bottom of most lists.
