Why the loss of Tyler Heineman is going to hurt the Blue Jays

The Blue Jays lineup took a big hit on Sunday in a way that no one expected at the beginning of the year.

On Sunday, the Blue Jays placed backup catcher Tyler Heineman on the 7-day injured list due to a concussion and called Ali Sanchez up from Triple-A Buffalo to fill his spot on the active roster in what could be a huge hit to the lineup.

Although Heineman's only had 51 plate appearances so far this season, he's been on an absolute tear at the plate. Prior to hitting the injured list, he was slashing an incredible .396/.412/.542 with four doubles, one home run, and six RBI. His 1.1 fWAR is tied for fourth on the Jays roster behind only Chris Bassitt, Alejandro Kirk, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Heineman entered the year as a reputation as a glove-first catcher, and he's carried that over to this season. He's in the 90th percentile in caught stealing above average along with being in the 72nd percentile in framing and the 80th percentile in pop time.

His exchange time of 0.54 seconds (the time it takes from him to catch the ball to release it) is second in MLB among catchers who have had at least 10 throwing opportunities. Heineman has thrown out 7-of-12 would-be base stealers, which translates to an incredible success rate of 58.3%.

Heineman's entered the year with a .212 average across his 111 games, but he's looking like a different hitter this year. HIs 172 wRC+ leads the Blue Jays by a wide margin, though he's also had less opportunities than everyone else on the roster.

But Heineman because of his hitting or fielding ability. He's a stable option behind the plate that the team loves (they've acquired him four separate times), which is something that Brian Serven didn't bring last year.

It's also worth nothing that Blue Jays pitchers have had some success with Heineman behind the dish, as the team's pitchers have a 3.67 ERA across Heineman's 127.2 innings behind the plate. They also had above-average hit rates against (7.19 H/9), strikeout rates (10.15 K/9), and walk rates (2.89 BB/9) with Heineman behind the dish.

The pitchers who have benefited the most from having Heineman behind the plate are Yariel Rodríguez (0.90 ERA in 10 innings), Brendon Little (8. 2/3 innings in 1.04 ERA) and Chris Bassitt (17.1 innings in 3.12 ERA) . He also happened to be behind the dish for Paxton Schultz's record-setting debut earlier this year.

While a backup catcher's production doesn't make or break a team's success, Heineman's consistency on both sides of the ball this season has been a huge win for the Blue Jays. Sanchez will have big shoes to fill in his place.