I like this image because it is both unsatisfying and a black hole, which is what Austin Hedges has been as a hitter. The reason Padres fans want to trade Hedges is because hearing his name being called to hit over the Petco Park speaker system is like hearing Omar from The Wire whistling. It fills you with dread. You want to run and take cover because things are going to get ugly. His 2019 slash line of .176/.252/.311 is not just bad, it’s shockingly terrible. Anyone with such a hideous track record should not come within sniffing distance of a major league lineup.

But Hedges isn’t just anyone.

Hedges is the best defensive player in baseball. That’s not conjecture. His 27.3 defensive runs saved above average last season was second only to fellow catcher JT Realmuto’s 27.8. When you take playing time into account, Hedges played 300+ fewer innings than Realmuto, meaning his defensive runs saved per inning far out-clips Realmuto.

In a way, Realmuto and Hedges are like a thought experiment I’ll call Schrodinger’s Cat-cher. In this experiment, two catchers of incredible defensive ability simultaneously exist -- the difference is, one can hit, and the other can’t. Both exist inside a Schrodinger’s Cat-cher box, and you don’t know which you have until you open it. When the Phillies open their box, they find Realmuto and his respectable .275/328/.493 offensive production. Paired with his aforementioned defense, that translates to an All-Star 5.7 fWAR. When the Padres open their box, they get Hedges and his 47 wRC+.

But as Fangraphs writer Ben Clemens points out in his excellent write-up, Hedges was still good for 1.4 fWAR in just 347 plate appearances (PA) last year. Bump that up to 600 PA as you’d expect from an everyday player, and he’s well over 2 WAR, perfectly respectable for a major league starter. With impeccable pitch framing and blocking ability, Hedges’s glove prowess somehow cancels out the sheer awfulness of his bat.

It’s worth zooming in on that pitch-framing ability because it’s hard to emphasize just how good Hedges is at it. Fangraphs lists Hedges as having 18 defensive runs saved (DRS) last year from pitch framing alone. 18! When you factor in Hedges’s playing time, that’s a run every five games. The next closest catcher in 2019 was Roberto Perez with 11 DRS, and that’s with almost two hundred more innings on the field. If I were a major league pitcher, there’s simply no one I’d rather be throwing to than Hedges.

Now, it’s time to take into account why Hedges belongs on the 2020 Padres. This team, this season, is going to be relying disproportionately on young pitching. Between Chris Paddack, Mackenzie Gore, and the bevy of bullpen prospects like Andres Muñoz and Michel Baez who will see ample playing time this year, having a catcher like Hedges behind the dish could prove especially valuable as a calming presence to the rookie and sophomore arms as they build experience.

Francisco Mejia is a great option for the Padres in the future, but his tools simply aren’t there yet to be relied on entirely by the Padres. His 2019 defensive runs saved of -0.1 means he was basically a league-average catcher. His wRC+ of 96 means he was basically an average hitter. If Mejia’s bat was as electric as it promises to be in a season or two, his average defense would be a small price to say for offensive production late in the lineup. But he’s just not ready yet, and the Padres have literally the best glove available to use.

If Mejia has a great season splitting time with Hedges, and top catching prospects Luis Torrens and Luis Campusano continue their upward trajectory in the farm system, Hedges may prove to be less valuable to the Padres for the highly-anticipated 2021 season. The team is still trying to remain competitive in 2020 for a wild card run and, at least for now, Hedges’ magical glove is the Padres’ best shot to do so.

The defense rests.

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Credit to the Seattle Times for the Featured Image