The Cleveland Guardians lost 2-0 on Wednesday, finishing a long stretch full of games on a sour note. They are headed for a much-needed day off on Thursday before returning to the field on Friday.
For the season, Cleveland is now 14-12 after the loss, still at the top of the AL Central. There is a revealing piece of data that has a lot to do with who is behind the plate, though.
The Guardians are 9-0 in games that Austin Hedges, the reserve catcher, starts, and 5-12 when Bo Naylor is behind the dish. Neither player has been an above-average offensive performer this year, so this is closely related to their defensive and game-calling qualities.
Naylor has been closer to average as a defensive catcher this year, with 0 Defensive Runs Saved and 0.0 Framing Runs. He has been a bit below average in blocking, but nothing too alarming.
Hedges, on the other hand, is close to elite as a defender. He is coming off a 9 DRS season in 2025, and while he is still at zero this year, he does have 0.6 Framing Runs and 1 Fielding Run Above Average (FRV). Naylor is at zero FRV while playing 123 innings behind the plate to Hedges’ 77, before Wednesday’s game.
Guardians insider Chris Assenheimer wonders if it’s time to make a change at the catcher position, giving more playing time to Hedges and making Naylor a backup.
“Time for Austin Hedges to become the regular catcher and not the backup?” he wrote on X.
Time for Austin Hedges to become the regular catcher and not the backup?
— Chris AssenheimerC-T (@CAwesomeheimer) April 22, 2026
Hedges is also sporting a better wRC+ at 79, which is bad, but compared to Naylor’s 18, he looks like Mike Piazza. If Naylor was hitting, perhaps the Guardians could justify playing him more often than his colleague, but since that’s not even the case, Hedges should probably be getting more reps behind the plate.
Pitchers are 100 percent comfortable with Hedges calling their pitches and guiding them through the game, and you can see it in the team’s win-loss record. He is also an asset in every aspect of the game, defensively speaking.
Perhaps the Guardians’ long-term solution at catcher isn’t on the active roster, or maybe it’s still Naylor. He has been extremely unproductive for years now, though, not just in 2026, and the organization could be contemplating a change in the not-so-distant future if he doesn’t turn things around.
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