Buffalo-area baseball fans had a pretty good reason to tune in when the Miami Marlins faced the Athletics on Saturday: the lineup card featured two catchers with deep Western New York roots.
Joe Mack was in there for Miami. Jonah Heim was behind the plate for the A’s.
That alone made the matchup stand out for fans in Buffalo and across the region. Mack came out of Williamsville East High School and was taken in the first round straight from there.
Heim went to Amherst and was selected in the fourth round. Neither player needed a college stop to get drafted that high and turn pro.
Then Mack gave the local connection an even bigger moment. With Heim catching, he homered.
The Marlins made sure to spotlight it, posting: “Absolutely iMACKulate”
- Miami Marlins (@Marlins) July 5, 2026
Local baseball instructor Casey Gruarin put the moment into words on X: "A kid from Williamsville just hit a homerun in MLB while a kid from Amherst is catching," wrote local baseball instructor Casey Gruarin on X. "Two guys from the next town over from each other playing against each other in the big leagues… That is INSANE."
It’s Mack’s debut season, and he’s already up to seven home runs. Heim, meanwhile, has settled into the journeyman phase of his career and is producing for the A’s, with eight homers of his own.
For most MLB fans, that’s just a neat little box score detail. But in Western New York, where the springs are cold and the baseball seasons are short, it lands differently.
The area has been producing more than just good memories lately, too. Not far from Rochester, Brighton High School’s Ernie Clement recently set an all-time playoff hits record for the Toronto Blue Jays.
So now Mack and Heim are giving Buffalo sports fans another reason to keep an eye on baseball, right alongside the Bills and Sabres.
In Other News...
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Dietz brings the safer feel of a college pitcher, while Rojas offers the kind of ceiling that can make a front office lean in if the draft starts breaking a certain way. Oakland could still pivot if the names ahead of them create a different opening, and there are other bats and arms in the mix as the first round unfolds. For now, though, the tension is less about whether the As want pitching and more about which type of pitcher they trust most when their turn finally arrives. [Read more 🡒]
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Kurtz is under team control through 2031 and is already in contract talks, which gives the Athletics a chance to lock in a centerpiece before his value climbs any higher. Langeliers brings a different kind of urgency, with free agency looming in 2028 and Scott Boras representing him, a combination that tends to keep front offices on alert. Together, their All-Star recognition could shape not just how the Athletics are viewed this summer, but how aggressively they approach the next few seasons. [Read more 🡒]
As Road Trip Opens With The Kind Of Test That Changes Everything
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The challenge is even sharper because Detroit can answer with Tarik Skubal, a pitcher whose return has already changed the tone around that rotation and around the market that may follow him. If the A's are going to make this trip matter for the right reasons, they will need sharper work from the top of the staff and a cleaner showing than what has defined much of the recent stretch, with Chicago waiting next as another test that can expose where this group really stands. [Read more 🡒]