CLEVELAND — Austin Hedges is again.
Hedges was the person with the right one-liners, recognized for his shirtless celebrations through the Guardians’ 2022 postseason run. He captivated followers together with his character and introduced super life to an already youthful clubhouse. And now, the catcher will likely be again in Cleveland for the 2024 season.
Sources inform MLB.com that Hedges’ one-year contract is value $4 million. The membership hasn’t confirmed the deal. At first, the information was puzzling, contemplating the workforce had Bo Naylor, Christian Bethancourt and David Fry on the 40-man roster. Later, it was introduced that the Guardians had traded Bethancourt to the Marlins in trade for money issues, releasing up a roster spot for Hedges.
Hedges is not Cleveland’s offensive reply. The membership is aware of that. However the Guardians have vocalized how vital management is behind the dish. Hedges has that (after which some), which is usually a nice instance for Naylor, who’s anticipated to deal with the majority of the catching duties in ’24.
Whereas Fry — a utility man — can function a 3rd catching possibility when wanted, Hedges might help spell Naylor on occasion whereas educating him the ins and outs of working the sport and dealing with a pitching employees. The Guardians have been the youngest workforce in baseball every of the previous two seasons. Not a lot will change in 2024, making Hedges’ presence within the clubhouse much more vital.
Whereas the 31-year-old owns a profession .189/.246/.321 slash line, he gives loads of worth together with his glove. A wonderful pitch-framer, Hedges ranked second within the Majors with 13 catcher framing runs in 2023. He additionally tied for sixth with eight blocks above common — the kind of defensive instance the Guardians would like to have for Naylor.
The group tried to make use of Mike Zunino in this sort of a task for Naylor final 12 months. As a substitute, Zunino struggled each offensively and defensively and was designated for task in June. Cam Gallagher did his half to fill in, however a character like Hedges (or Zunino, if he would’ve panned out) is what the Guardians want.
Hedges initially joined Cleveland within the 2020 commerce that despatched righty Mike Clevinger to the Padres. He left the Guardians as a free agent after the ’22 season and signed with the Pirates final offseason earlier than being traded to the World Sequence champion Rangers in August.
For a corporation that demonstrated its lack of monetary flexibility by saying it didn’t have the mandatory sources to maintain a starter like Cal Quantrill, who was projected to make $6.5 million in arbitration this winter, it was capable of finding a solution to lock up Hedges for $4 million. By buying and selling Bethancourt, who’s projected to make $2 million in arbitration in accordance with Cot’s Contracts, in trade for money, it helps the Guardians navigate most of his contract. However how else they are going to be capable of add this offseason stays to be seen.