The Cleveland Guardians need an upgrade at catcher but will it happen?

The Cleveland Guardians need an upgrade at catcher but can they do that?

With all due respect to Austin Hedges, not many people think he’s a great fit in the Major Leagues. The Cleveland Guardians’ primary catcher is Hedges and has been for the better part of the last two seasons. He came over in the Mike Clevinger trade and there was some optimism that he could push then starter Roberto Perez for time.

Perez, while he had 24 home runs and hit .239 in 2019, has never been a good hitter. He was a Gold Glove-caliber catcher, sure, but the team needs hitting as much as it needs good fielding and a guy like Perez never did make the team better. In fact, others had to make up for his deficiencies at the plate.

Perez was the replacement for Yan Gomes, who left in 2018 after his lone All-Star season. He got dealt that offseason, and frankly, gave the Guardians one of the few trades that didn’t work out for them. Since the Gomes trade, the Guardians have been looking for a catcher who can hit.

Hedges isn’t the answer, but besides over-paying and aging and declining 30+ something, is there an answer to this issue?

The Cleveland Guardians’ best hope at catcher is Bo Naylor

Maybe the best catching prospect the Cleveland Guardians have is Bo Naylor.  Naylor, the younger brother of Josh Naylor, is not a player who is ready for Major League action, as his 0-8, with 5 Ks stat line would indicate.

No, Naylor has struggled in the minors and had a stat line of just .257/.366/.514 and an OPS of .880 in Triple-A Columbus this season. A general rule of thumb is to knock 20 or 30 points off the battling average every time a player advances and you’ll get a rough idea of what he’ll do in the Majors.

Naylor is no different. He dropped 30 points going from Rookie to Single-A, then dropped another 50 points on his batting average going from Single-A to Double-A. Now, he did have a bounce-back year in Double-A, hitting .271, but as his stat line shows, he fell 14 points moving up to Triple-A and struck out far more.

His power numbers improved, and that’s a good thing. If he comes in and hits 30 home runs but only .230, that’s still an improvement over Hedges.

The trade market could also net the Guardians a starting catcher, which may be the way to go but as of right now there isn’t any name on the market that gets people buzzing. We’ll have a better understanding come December of who is and isn’t available in that area.