Player News
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Rangers general manager Ross Fenstermaker said Tuesday that Higashioka and Jonah Heim will split time at catcher in 2025, Jeff Wilson of AllDLLS.com reports. Texas announced the signing of Higashioka to a two-year, $13.5 million contract on Monday. The 34-year-old is coming off the best offensive season of his career, having posted a .739 OPS with 17 home runs over 84 games with the Padres. Higashioka's 263 plate appearances in 2024 were a career high, but it sounds like he'll have a good shot to eclipse that total in 2025.
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Higashioka signed a two-year, $13.5 million contract with Texas on Monday, which includes a $7 million mutual option for 2027. Higashioka will add a veteran presence to the backstop position for Texas and is likely to share the workload with Jonah Heim, who struggled during the 2024 campaign. Higashioka is coming off one of his most productive seasons at the plate, swatting a career-high 17 home runs and recording 45 RBI in 84 games for the Padres.
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Higashioka is absent from Sunday's lineup against Arizona. Elias Diaz will be behind home plate and bat seventh in Sunday's regular-season finale. Unless he comes in to pinch hit, Higashioka will end the regular season having slashed .220/.263/.476 with 17 home runs and 45 RBI over 2673 plate appearances.
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Higashioka went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in Saturday's 5-0 win over the Diamondbacks. Higashioka opened the scoring when he took A.J. Puk deep in the ninth inning. This was Higashioka's first homer in a month, and he's had a poor September, batting just .174 over 17 contests. For the season, the catcher has a .220/.263/.476 slash line with 17 homers, 45 RBI, 29 runs scored and two stolen bases over a career-high 263 plate appearances.
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Higashioka isn't in the Padres' lineup for Wednesday's game against the Dodgers. Higashioka's single in Tuesday's win broke an 0-for-11 stretch at the plate, and he'll now get a chance to rest while Elias Diaz catches for Dylan Cease.
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Stats
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | BB | KO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | SD | 84 | 246 | 29 | 54 | 17 | 45 | 15 | 74 | 2 | .219 |
| 2023 | NYY | 92 | 242 | 24 | 57 | 10 | 34 | 14 | 74 | 0 | .235 |
Last 7 Games
| DATE | Opp | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | BB | KO | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/29 | @  |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9/28 | @ |
4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9/27 | @ |
4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 9/26 | @  |
4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9/25 | @ |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9/24 | @ |
4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 9/22 | vs  |
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Upcoming Games
| date | Opp | time | Scheduled Starter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/27 | vs  |
12:00 AM | Not Announced Yet |
| 3/28 | vs |
12:00 AM | Not Announced Yet |
| 3/29 | vs |
12:00 AM | Not Announced Yet |
| 3/30 | vs |
12:00 AM | Not Announced Yet |
| 3/31 | @  |
5:40 PM | Not Announced Yet |
| 4/01 | @ |
5:40 PM | Not Announced Yet |
| 4/02 | @ |
11:40 AM | Not Announced Yet |