Padres Promote Austin Hedges
- Updated: May 4, 2015
(Picture via twitter user @XTRA1360)
The San Diego Padres made another big personnel move on Monday, this time not a trade but a call up of top defensive catching prospect Austin Hedges. With Derek Norris providing solid offensive and defensive production as the Padres first choice catcher, the immediate impact of Hedges being called up won’t be particularly significant, but what is significant is the reason Hedges has been called up ahead of schedule; he’s hitting well. As previously written on calisportsnews.com, Hedges has excellent defensive abilities, but his bat has severely lagged behind in development and was a huge concern before this season started. Looking at his stats on baseball-reference.com shows he’s addressed those concerns by hitting an impressive .324 at AAA El Paso. Of course hitting in the PCL, a big time hitters league, is helpful and possibly a little misleading. The positive thing for Hedges is his hugely improved pitch recognition as shown by the 8 walks he’s drawn as compared to his 8 strikeouts through 21 games. Last season he walked 21 times and struck out 89 times in 113 games.
Wil Nieves being designated for assignment is the corresponding move to make room for Austin Hedges. Nieves produced perhaps the best moment of the Padres 2015 season so far with a grand slam against the Giants in the opening home series, but he hasn’t been able to produce anything else and has actually been a liability defensively when he’s given Derek Norris the occasional day off. The difficulty Nieves had catching Craig Kimbrel this past Wednesday may have been what sealed his fate because Hedges won’t have issued like that.
Hedges could have been the guy to back up Norris from the start of the season simply based on his elite defensive abilities, but promoting him all the way to the majors when he looked lost with a bat in his hand in AA never would have made much sense. Now that he’s found some form and confidence at AAA the Padres have decided he’s progressed enough that after spending part of 2013 and all of 2014 at AA, he can move on from AAA after only a month. With Derek Norris firmly at the top of the catching depth chart, not much pressure will be placed on the young Hedges to produce offensively as long as he avoids mistakes defensively. If he can bring his new-found hitting patience and pitch recognition to the big league club and chip in occasionally offensively while providing plus defense he could create an elite catching duo for the Padres alongside Derek Norris.
Austin Hedges will join the team in San Francisco today as the Padres open a 9 game road trip tonight against the Giants.
Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things San Diego Padres and the rest of the SoCal sports teams! All Cali, All the time!
Related Posts
About Guest Writer
