{"id":89101,"date":"2024-11-06T16:16:33","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T21:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=89101"},"modified":"2024-11-06T16:42:13","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T21:42:13","slug":"austin-hedges-guardians-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/11\/06\/austin-hedges-guardians-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Guardians Reach Agreement with Familiar Face for Next Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sources close to the negotiations have informed ESPN’s Jeff Passan<\/a> that catcher Austin Hedges<\/a> and the Cleveland Guardians have come to terms on a one-year contract. Hedges will rejoin the Guardians, assuming a key backup role to Bo Naylor<\/a>. There’s no word yet on the financial details, but Hedges will return to Cleveland. The 32-year-old slash only .152\/.203\/.220 with two home runs in 66 games for the Guardians this season. However, he is lauded for his defense and handling of a pitching staff.<\/p>\n

Austin Hedges Stays with the Guardians<\/h2>\n

Cleveland announced earlier this week that utilityman David Fry<\/a> had undergone elbow surgery. Fry will miss 6-8 months and will limit him to designated hitter duties for 2025. Signing Hedges provides the Guardians a capable backup for Naylor, whom Hedges mentored with Fry throughout the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

Hedges, who played in Cleveland from 2020-22, is solid defensively and importantly, he’s clubhouse leader. The Guardians missed his presence in 2023 after Hedges finished that season winning a World Series<\/a> with the Texas Rangers. He got one at-bat against the Arizona Diamondbacks and struck out.<\/p>\n

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Hedges’ 2024 campaign was marked by impressive defensive contributions behind the plate. In his 46 starts, the Guardians went 26-20 (.565), with Cleveland pitchers posting a 3.93 ERA (173ER\/396 2\/3 IP) across his 65 total games catching. Hedges recorded 5 Defensive Runs Saved, demonstrating his skill in preventing opposition scoring. According to Statcast, he was credited with +6 Catcher Framing Runs, ranking 8th in MLB, following a +13 performance in 2023. His blocking abilities placed him in the 75th percentile among MLB catchers in Blocks Above Average. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Hedges also played a key role in the postseason, appearing in 8 of 10 games and catching 35 of 89 total innings. Over the past two seasons, the Guardians have excelled with Hedges as starter, boasting a 60.1% win percentage (86-57) in his 97 starts at catcher, including 2022.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Addition Bolster’s Cleveland’s Depth<\/h3>\n
The addition of Hedges not only bolster’s Cleveland’s catching depth, but it also reunites the team with a respected clubhouse leader. With Fry’s injury limiting to DH duties, Hedges’ signing takes on added importance. Hedges’ return ensure continuity and stability behind the plate.<\/div>\n
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As the Guardians look to build on their recent success, Hedges’ defensive expertise and postseason experience make him a valuable asset. His ability to guide the team’s young pitching staff and provide a steady presence in the clubhouse will be crucial.<\/div>\n
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Main Photo: \u00a9 Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sources close to the negotiations have informed ESPN’s Jeff Passan that catcher Austin Hedges and the Cleveland Guardians have come to terms on a one-year contract. Hedges will rejoin the Guardians, assuming a key backup role to Bo Naylor. There’s no word yet on the financial details, but Hedges will return to Cleveland. The 32-year-old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3686,"featured_media":89102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1071,35],"tags":[1027,3453,28772],"class_list":["post-89101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guardians","category-mlb","category-news","tag-austin-hedges","tag-bo-naylor","tag-david-fry"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3686"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}