How does the Rangers' catching duo stack up against their AL West counterparts?

While the Texas Rangers do not have a completeley new catching core, the mainstay of Jonah Heim has departed to Atlanta leaving Kyle Higashioka as the senior ranking backstop for Texas heading into the 2026 season.

Alongside Higashioka is veteran Danny Jansen, an eight year MLB veteran with previous stops in Toronto, Boston, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee. Even though Jansen and Higashioka bring a combined 18 seasons of experience, they still have a lot to learn about working with a new pitching staff and entourage of pitchers.

It presents its challenges compared to other catching duos within the American League West who are more established with their organizations but the Jansen and Higashioka duo stand among the top of the list.

Higashioka, Jansen bring underrated mentality to Rangers' backstop

Entering his second and final contract season with the Rangers, the 35-year-old Higashioka played second fiddle to Heim, who the team was still hopeful would turn around his misfortune. That didn't happen and down the stretch of the year, Higgy was getting more looks in the lineup.

Appearing in 94 games during the year, he played in 51 of the Rangers final 77 games, accounting for roughly 66 percent of the final three months of their schedule. In that stretch he batted .257 with 10 home runs and 31 RBIs.

Jansen, 30, had 98 games among the Rays and Brewers after being traded from Milwaukee at the deadline in exchange for 2B Jadher Areinamo.

In those games he batted .215 with 14 home runs and 35 RBIs and an excellent .321 on-base percentage. While his power numbers were higher during his stretch with Tampa Bay, his slash line was up across the board in Milwaukee.

Comparing Rangers' duo to other AL West catchers

While it's hard to beat out each other AL West's primary catcher, it does seem like the Rangers have a more complete catching core.

Yes, Seattle has the best catcher in baseball in Cal Raleigh but the leading frontrunner for the backup catcher in the first full week of spring training is former Ranger Andrew Knizner. For Houston, Yainer Diaz saw a slight dip in performance but is still a solid catcher on both sides of the ball, but his counterpart is a 2017 draft pick with just 56 career at-bats under his belt.

When it comes to the Athletics and Angels, two teams that are still trying to figure it out, they have powerful backstops in Shea Langeliers and Logan O'Hoppe but the backup duo of Austin Wynns and Travis d'Arnaud leave a lot to be desired.

Not saying that Jansena and Higashioka are the greatest catching duo in the league right now but I think as a combo they have the most experience and consistency to be great at the plate, lead the pitching staff well and provide Skip Schumaker with flexibility game after game.