How Austin Hedges’ Value to the Cleveland Guardians Goes Far Beyond the Field

Austin Hedges' value isn't determined by what he does while out on the diamond.

But rather by what he provides the team with when the door is shut, mouths are closed and leadership is needed.

All offseason, questions continued to pop up each day: “Why is Austin Hedges still a member of the Cleveland Guardians?” “Why did the front office give him $3 million just to play once a week and take up a spot on the major league roster?”

And each time a member of the Guardians has a chance to speak to the media, somehow the importance of Hedges is brought up.

Following the Guardians' win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night, 4-2, starting pitcher Parker Messick gave time to hand Hedges his flowers. He pitched six scoreless innings while on the mound, allowing just five hits and striking out five batters in the process.

“I can’t put it into words what he means to the team," Messick said, who performed really well in his first start of the 2026 campaign. "I mean, he's everything from a… locker room leader… off the field leader to on the field game manager. He's probably going to be a phenomenal coach one day. And he just knows how to control the game..."

Going up against players like Shohei Ohtani, who has blasted 40 or more home runs in four of the last five seasons, can rattle some youngsters.

Messick, who had Hedges in his corner, was fortunate enough to stay level-headed, though, primarily due to the veteran catchers' ability to calm him down and keep him from getting too worked up when things went awry.

"I told him in our pregame meeting, ‘if you see me getting too wild up, too fast during the game: full permission calm me down,'" said Messick. "'Like, look at me and tell me to calm down.' And he did that multiple times. You know, it's something very subtle, but he is so good at that, and he's such a leader to our team, I couldn't be more grateful as a young pitcher to have him as a catcher”

#Guardians Parker Messick gave Austin Hedges his flowers tonight:

“I can’t put it into words what he means to the team. I mean, he's everything from a… locker room leader… off the field leader to on the field game manager. He's probably going to be a phenomenal coach one day.…
— Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) March 31, 2026

Hedges has been receiving praise like this a lot over the last couple of months. The 33-year-old has now played in Cleveland for six of his 12 seasons in professional baseball, showing loyalty to a city that seemed to initially be just a mid-career stop.

Instead, it's begun to look like he'll retire a Guardian.

Before the Guardians' win against the Dodgers, Hedges celebrated 10 years of service time, an accomplishment only so many players in the storied history of the game can say they've completed. On average, fewer than one-tenth of big leaguers actually ever reach such a mark in service time.

Hedges’ value to the organization is widely recognized by the higher-ups, with President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti even speaking about the importance of his continued presence with the Guardians.

"Austin has an immeasurable impact on our team," Antonetti said earlier this offseason. "Everyone knows what he can do defensively behind the plate, but he's also part of the glue of our clubhouse in connecting other people. As we talk about that continued development and progression and a lot of the strides that some of our young pitchers made, Austin was a big part of that.

"He helps lead our entire team in not just the catching position, but really everybody in that clubhouse."

Another player who recently praised Hedges was counterpart catcher Bo Naylor, who has been using his time with the veteran to learn and model his defensive game after him.

“He’s part of the heartbeat of this team,” Naylor said of Hedges. “He comes in every day and is the same guy, and that’s something that’s hard to do. What he does for this team, the type of leader that he is, keeping everyone in line and making sure that our heads are all in the right spot, it’s special and it’s something that nobody takes for granted.”

Moving forward, Hedges will likely continue playing a major role in the Guardians' locker room culture, and hopefully, eventually, he'll end up becoming a member of Cleveland's coaching staff.

“What he brings to our team, both on the field and in the clubhouse, is immeasurable, it’s invaluable. ... For any player to get 10 years in this league, you’re doing a lot of things really, really well, and Austin’s no different to that," manager Stephen Vogt said. "But the teammate he is, the person he is, the leader he is, we would not be the team we are without Austin Hedges, and he’s a pretty good baseball player, too.”