The Cleveland Guardians have the best record in the AL Central and the second-best in the American League as of Thursday night. At 8-5, they have tied one series and won the other three against quality teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs, and the Kansas City Royals.
The majority of the roster has contributed something to the cause, and that includes reserve catcher Austin Hedges. In addition to his usual defensive prowess, Hedges is actually producing at the plate, even if the sample is extremely small.
With starting catcher Bo Naylor struggling to get going at the plate, Hedges has taken advantage of every opportunity thrown his way.
“Through his first 15 at-bats this season, Hedges is batting .400 with two doubles and a .933 OPS. It’s a remarkable turnaround for a player who totaled just 25 hits all of last year. For comparison’s sake, Aaron Judge hit just .188 with a .798 OPS through his first 16 at-bats,” Joe Noga of Cleveland.com wrote.
Before anyone decides to take it the wrong way, no, nobody is saying that Hedges is as good as Judge at the plate. There are three planets between the two. But the Guardians veteran is doing his best whenever it’s his turn to play, and manager Stephen Vogt can’t really ask for more.
Now, it’s important to consider a few things. The first one is that while Hedges may and should be playing more, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he will maintain a .400 batting average and a .933 OPS over the course of a full season. Cleveland should take his recent production, enjoy it, and hope he can play better than what he has shown in his career from this point forward.
Hedges is a 51-wRC+ hitter for his career, so he hasn’t suddenly morphed into a 175-wRC+ monster if given 300 or 400 plate appearances. What we do know is that he should be playing more because he offers better defense behind the plate than Naylor, better game-planning, and, right now at least, he is hitting, and the starter isn’t.
Vogt is a loyal manager, and it will take a lot for him to consider a change or at least an even timeshare, but Hedges deserves to play more often until he falls back down to earth, at least.
If you have a hot hitter and the offense isn’t elite, riding the hot hand doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
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