Guardians' Austin Hedges: Sitting Friday vs. Oakland
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Hedges is not in the Guardians' lineup for Friday's contest against the Athletics.
Hedges drew the start at catcher for Opening Day, and he finished 1-for-4 with one run, one RBI and one strikeout. Lefty Bo Naylor will be behind home plate Friday and bat seventh with the Athletics starting right-hander Ross Stripling.
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Guardians' Austin Hedges: Back behind plate Wednesday
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Hedges (undisclosed) will start at catcher and bat seventh in Wednesday's Cactus League game against the Cubs.
Hedges was scratched ahead of Monday's game against the Dodgers after colliding with a teammate prior to the contest, but the Guardians removed him from the lineup only as a precautionary matter. With the veteran backstop apparently feeling fine two days later, he'll step back in behind the plate. Hedges is expected to serve as the Guardians' No. 2 catcher this season, with most of his starts likely to come against left-handed pitching when the lefty-hitting Bo Naylor gets days off.
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Guardians' Austin Hedges: Scratched as precaution
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Hedges was scratched from the lineup for Monday's Cactus League game against the Dodgers after colliding with a teammate during a pregame workout, Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports.
The team relays that Hedges was scratched out of "an abundance of caution," so expect him to be fine in a day or two. David Fry will shift to catcher and Deyvison De Los Santos has entered the lineup at designated hitter.
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Guardians' Austin Hedges: In positional battle
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Hedges has gone 2-for-8 with a home run, a double, two RBI and three strikeouts over four Cactus League games.
Hedges is not guaranteed to open the season as the Guardians' backup catcher despite his $4 million salary for 2024. David Fry, who can also play first base and corner outfield, could be in line for the backup catcher role -- or offer the Guardians the choice to carry three natural backstops. Among the team's catching crew, Hedges offers the least offensive upside, as he hasn't hit better than .184 in any of the past five seasons. Bo Naylor (back) is penciled in as the Guardians' starter behind the dish.
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Guardians' Austin Hedges: Rejoining Cleveland
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Hedges agreed to a one-year, $4 million contract with the Guardians on Sunday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.
Hedges split last season between Pittsburgh and Texas but will make a 2024 return to Cleveland, where he made 199 appearances from 2020 to 2022. The veteran backstop brings little offensively with a .478 OPS over the past two years but provides strong defense. Hedges should fill the backup job at catcher behind youngster Bo Naylor for the Guardians.
The Pirates traded Hedges to the Rangers on Tuesday in exchange for international bonus pool money, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.
Hedges had limped to a .180/.237/.230 slash line across 186 plate appearances with the Pirates. He'll presumably fill in as a depth piece at catcher behind Mitch Garver until Jonah Heim (wrist) returns from the injured list.
Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton confirmed Monday that Hedges is in line to serve as the Pirates' No. 2 catcher moving forward after Endy Rodriguez was promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis, Justice delos Santos of MLB.com reports.
Though Rodriguez will ascend to the top of the depth chart following his call-up, Hedges won't be removed from the catching mix entirely. Shelton noted that he still expects Hedges to catch a couple of times per week, and the veteran is also likely to be deployed behind the dish on select occasions late in close games when defense is of greater importance. Hedges' skills as a pitch framer and game caller may be the only attributes keeping him on the Pittsburgh roster at this point; he's slashing a lowly .175/.226/.227 over 177 plate appearances on the season.
Hedges isn't in the Pirates' lineup Saturday against Arizona.
Hedges has started to turn things around since the start of July, going 4-for-12 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored over five games. He'll get a breather Saturday while Jason Delay starts behind the dish and bats ninth.
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Pirates' Austin Hedges: Sitting in series finale
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Hedges is not in Thursday's lineup against the Dodgers.
Hedges had started four consecutive games behind the dish, during which we went 3-for-10 with two RBI and a run scored. Jason Delay will take over at catcher and hit ninth.
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Pirates' Austin Hedges: Resting Wednesday
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Hedges is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Padres.
The Pirates' recent decision to promote top catching prospect Henry Davis hasn't affected Hedges, as the Bucs have instead elected to let the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 First-Year Player Draft get his feet wet in right field and at designated hitter in his first taste of the big leagues. As such, Hedges and Jason Delay have remained the Pirates' top options behind the plate, with the former garnering each of the last three starts at catcher. Hedges will give way to Delay on Thursday while the Pirates and Padres conclude their series with a day game after a night game.
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Pirates' Austin Hedges: Gets Saturday off
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Hedges isn't in the Pirates' lineup Saturday against the Marlins.
Hedges is 0-for-14 across his last seven games, so he'll get a day off Saturday as Pittsburgh looks for more production from the catcher position. Jason Delay will take over as the Pirates' catcher and bat ninth.
Hedges is out of the lineup for Sunday's game at Milwaukee.
Hedges started the first two games of the series and will take a seat for Sunday's finale after going 0-for-5 with a strikeout. Jason Delay will step in behind the plate to catch for righty Luis Ortiz.
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Pirates' Austin Hedges: Smacks first homer
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Hedges went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Wednesday's loss to the Cubs.
Hedges took Drew Smyly deep in the fourth inning for his first home run of the year, extending Pittsburgh's lead to 5-1. The 30-year-old backstop has been relatively productive of late, going 7-for-27 (.259) with a .730 OPS over his last eight games. Still, Hedges isn't likely to provide much fantasy value outside of very deep leagues. He's slashing just .183/.240/.252 with 12 RBI and 10 runs scored through 131 plate appearances this season.
Hedges went 1-for-4 with a double and two RBI on Friday against the Mets.
Hedges hit a ground-rule double to the opposite field in the second to drive in two, marking only his fifth extra-base hit of the season. He's been relatively productive by collecting five hits in 18 at-bats across his last five games, though he still has a dreadful .179 average for the season across 122 plate appearances. With both Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez currently playing at Triple-A Indianapolis, Hedges could also be at risk of losing playing time in the relatively near future.
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Pirates' Austin Hedges: Gets breather Wednesday
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Hedges is not in the starting lineup Wednesday versus the Athletics, Kevin Gorman of TribLive.com reports.
Hedges will take a seat after he went 1-for-7 with a run scored, a walk and two strikeouts while starting the first two games of the series with Oakland. Jason Delay will start at catcher and bat ninth in the series finale Wednesday.
