Despite hitting a crucial three-run homer on Thursday, Cleveland Guardians catcher Bo Naylor has been among the worst hitters in baseball this year. He boasts a .143 batting average and a .438 OPS, even after the outburst.
The Guardians have many options if they want to make a change at the catcher position. They can go with a David Fry-Austin Hedges tandem, or they can call up red-hot prospect Cooper Ingle from Triple-A.
There’s also the option of giving Naylor more time to figure things out, especially on the heels of his two-hit, three-RBI performance on Thursday.
Speaking on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast, Guardians Insider Paul Hoynes says that Hedges’ playing time is fine just the way it is, and warns that increasing it could result in him losing effectiveness. It’s certainly a valid claim.
“The Guardians’ approach of managing Hedges in short bursts, keeping him as Parker Messick’s personal catcher and spotting him strategically, is probably the right call. ‘You don’t want to run this guy into the ground,’ Hoynes said on the podcast. ‘Using him in short bursts. They’re using him just the right way,” Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast wrote.
Hoynes makes a lot of sense when he says they are using Hedges the right way. With the current arrangement, he is hitting a cool .311/.360/.467 with a homer in 50 plate appearances.
Making Hedges an everyday catcher can be, indeed, counterproductive. First and foremost, Hedges hasn’t been an effective regular, offensively speaking, for years, almost a decade. Secondly, giving him the lion’s share of at-bats could eliminate the surprise element he is currently providing. And third, he could start to feel the wear and tear of the accumulated innings.
The Guardians could give him more plate appearances, but giving him the majority of reps might affect his numbers at the plate and, as a result, the team as a whole. Of course, his excellent defense behind the dish also needs to be factored in at the moment of making a decision.
The truth is that his 130 wRC+ might not be sustainable, given the fact that he is a career 51-wRC+ hitter, but the organization needs to do what it can to keep him somewhat dangerous at the plate if at all possible, and for as long as possible.
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