EXCLUSIVE: Texas Rangers have land two star veterans via swap deal from…

Catching prospect heads to Texas with Davis, Andrus on the move.While Khris Davis and Elvis Andrus headlined the exchange of veteran mainstays between the Athletics and Rangers on Saturday,

Texas also scored a catching prospect as part of the five-player trade.

Jonah Heim, who entered the weekend as the Athletics’ ninth-ranked prospect, headed to Texas, joining a catching stable that also includes Jose

Trevino, No. 78 overall prospect Sam Huff and No. 15 Rangers prospect David Garcia.

In all, Texas netted a designated hitter in Davis who hit .200 last year and is entering his ninth Major League season; Heim and right-hander Dane

Acker, Oakland’s fourth-round pick out of the University of Oklahoma in last summer’s draft. Oakland received Andrus and catcher Aramis Garcia.

The trade marks Heim’s third time being dealt. The Orioles selected Heim out of a New York high school in the fourth round of the 2013 Draft and

traded him to the Rays for cornerman Steve Pearce in 2016. Heim was also the player to be named later in a December 2017 trade that sent Joey Wendle from Oakland to Tampa Bay.

The 25-year-old made his Major League debut in August of the shortened 2020 season and spent all of September with the big league club, hitting .211 in 12 starts.

In 2019, Heim hit .310/.385/.477 with 35 walks to 45 strikeouts in 85 games between Double-A Midland and Triple-A Las Vegas.

That season was a step forward for the 6-foot-4, 220-pound backstop. During his first year with the A’s organization in 2018, Heim batted .258

with strikeouts in more than 18 percent of his at-bats over 118 games between Class A Advanced Stockton and Midland.

Heim lowered that mark to 15.6 percent the following summer.