CLEVELAND, Ohio – SEPTEMBER 4: Austin Hedges #17 of the Cleveland Guardians talks with Adam Fraser #26 of the Seattle Mariners during a rain delay at Progressive Field on September 4, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
The Cleveland Guardians are the youngest team in baseball, so nearly all of their team are set to return in 2023.
The Cleveland Guardians are the youngest team in baseball and they have surprised the baseball world (myself included) all season. They extended their third baseman Jose Ramirez before the start of the season, and especially in the second half of the season, they proved their ability to play with the greats in the sport.
However, as with every team in the majors, there will be at least a little change in their roster ahead of the 2023 season.
Here are three of the Cleveland Guardians who won’t be returning to the club in 2023 and where they will go.
3 Guardians who will not return and where they will go
1) keeper Austin Hedges – San Diego Padres
The Cleveland Guardians were never humiliated out of a catch-up this year, but they had one of the best defensive pickup teams in the sport.
Austin Hedges was their main catcher and in the regular season, he hit 0.163/.241/.248 with an OPS +42, which was the worst of all Guardians players with at least 60 matches.
They also have Bo Naylor, the Guardians 1B/DH/Of Josh Naylor’s younger brother, who is No. 5 potential year And potential #75 on MLB.com is waiting in the wings. He’s spent most of the season in Triple-A, but after just five MLB games this year, he’s been on the post-season roster as a third player since hitting Hedges so often.
Next year, Naylor will likely have veteran Luke Miley, a fine defender with a much better bat, to be the replacement. They also have Bryan Lavastida (the 24th player in Cleveland) waiting in the wings at Triple-A (with a few MLB matches played) as well.
A team like Padres can use Hedges. The Padres have known him since they recruited him and he spent parts of his first six seasons in the majors with them. This year, their catchers were the sport’s fourth-worst in defenses saved and in the last 10 on nearly another field metric.
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