Guardians: Austin Hedges showing his offensive side this season

CLEVELAND — Earlier in the week, Guardians catcher and team leader Austin Hedges poked fun at his unspectacular career offensive numbers while defending a mental error from rookie Cooper Ingle. Opposing pitchers aren't laughing at Hedges when he has a bat in his hands this year. A lifetime .185 hitter over nine-plus years in the majors prior to this season, Hedges had his average at .270 with a .331 on-base percentage and .383 slugging percentage in 42 games through Thursday. Hedges has shown offensive ability before, hitting 43 homers for the Padres over three straight seasons (2017-19), but the elite defender has never been in a groove like this. He entered Friday with a higher average and OPS (.714) than Josh Naylor. "There's nothing I've worked harder at in my entire life. I've just worked and worked and worked," Hedges said. "I've wanted to give up a lot, and it's not been easy and it's not been pretty for about a decade. But the one thing I am proud of is that I just haven't stopped working and it's still a work in progress. I still have tons of room to get better. "I'd love to play this game until I can't walk anymore. So, to me, that's a lot more years and so not even close to a finished product and there's still a lot of work to be done, but that's all it is. It's just hard work." He's having a great year both defensively, offensively, everything," manager Stephen Vogt said. "Hedgie does whatever we ask of him and he's incredible." After searching for years, Hedges has found an approach he is comfortable with at the plate. "He's convicted and committed to a plan," Vogt said. "Every good hitter is convicted to their plan, and we've talked for a couple years now, Hedgie can hit, and he's showing up." "I tried a lot of approaches, didn't stick to any of them, and I kind of have a little bit of an approach that I stick to, and I'm convicted in that," said Hedges. "That might change on a nightly basis. It might change on a pitch-by-pitch basis. But whatever I'm doing, I am very convicted in that, and that's really all that matters." Hedges has already earned the respect of his teammates with his leadership skills and work behind the plate. The offensive production is an added bonus. "It's been really special," David Fry said. "Obviously, the whole world knows he's one of the best, if not the best, defensive catcher in the game. But what he's done working on a swing, working on an approach, he's a problem in the (batter's) box. "He does the whole offensive game. Our identity as a team is we touch first, but we get into good counts and we slug, and he's kind of been like the poster of that the last, I don't know, handful of months." "He's obviously been putting together really good at-bats throughout the whole season," said starting pitcher Joey Cantillo, who was supported by a Hedges homer in his last start Wednesday. "It's like whenever he pulls the fastball, whenever he pulls something in the air, it's a good sight to see." Up and down Reliever Daniel Espino was optioned to Triple-A Columbus prior to the game while the Guardians recalled right-hander Franco Aleman from the minors for his second career stint in the majors. The oft-injured Espino struck out the side in the fifth inning and pitched a scoreless sixth in a 6-5 win over the White Sox in his longest outing (1 2/3 innings) since 2022. "We needed an arm," Vogt explained. "Daniel pitched unbelievably (Thursday) night for us and what does it do? It earns you a trip back to Columbus, but that's just the way it works. Daniel was incredible when we talked to him. He knows he's going to be back to help us win, and we're happy that Frank comes back. He's been throwing the ball really well in Columbus. He threw the ball well when he was here. He's going to help us." Aleman has dominated at Columbus, owning a 0.32 ERA and 43 strikeouts over 28 1/3 innings. He made his MLB debut June 10 and appeared in two games for Cleveland, allowing a run on three hits (one homer) with a strikeout in 2 2/3 innings. Evenly matched The Guardians and White Sox had split the season series through Thursday, with each game decided by a run. "I feel like all of our divisional opponents, we play like this. It's always close. It's always back and forth," Vogt said. "We've played them four games, and they've been four very close back-and-forth games. They're a good team and I have a feeling we're going to play nine more of them." Progress report Jose Ramirez took ground balls at third base prior to Friday's game. He got the stitches out of his left hand Tuesday after surgery June 16 to remove the hook of the hamate bone and is expected to miss at least another month. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on X @CAwesomeheimer.