Rangers Catcher, 3 Others Earn Big Pre-Arb Bonus

Texas Rangers catcher Jonah Heim got one of the largest pre-arbitration bonuses of the 2023 season, as released by Major League Baseball on Monday.

Heim was one of 10 players to earn at least $1 million based on the formula for bonuses. The 25-year-old earned received $1.060 million.

The bulk of Heim’s earnings comes from his Second-Team All-MLB selection, which was released on Saturday at the MLB Awards in Las Vegas. With the award, Heim received $500,000. The remainder of the bonus came via a WAR formula.

The top bonus went to Seattle outfielder Julio Rodriguez, who netted a $1.865 million bonus in just his second MLB season, despite having already signed a long-term deal with the Mariners.

Heim won his first Gold Glove in 2023 after throwing out a career-high 22-of-80 base stealers. His 27.5% rate was the best in the American League.

Heim slashed .258/.317/.438/.755 with 18 home runs and 95 RBI. All were career highs.

Three other Rangers earned pre-arbitration bonuses based on the WAR formula — starting pitcher Dane Dunning received $446,638, third baseman Josh Jung received $362,420, and outfielder Leody Taveras received 336,380.

Payments from a $50 million pool went to 101 players who didn’t have the service time for salary arbitration for 2022, which was two years and 228 days.

Players can receive bonus money for at least one award per season, with the rest of the money dispersed based on the WAR formula.

Those awards include $2.5 million for winning an MVP or Cy Young Award, $1.75 million for finishing second in the voting, $1.5 million for third, $1 million for fourth and fifth, or selection to the all-MLB first team. Other amounts include $750,000 for Rookie of the Year; and $500,000 for finishing second in the voting or earning all-MLB second team.