C · 2026
Austin Hedges
- Age
- 34
- B/T
- R/R
- Height
- 6' 0"
- Weight
- 220 lb
- Number
- #27
- Born
- August 18, 1992 in San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA
- MLB debut
- May 4, 2015
- Drafted
- 2011, round 2
- High school
- Junipero Serra
- Salary, 2026
- $4M
- dbWAR
- .2 6 season(s)
- PA
- 178
- AVG
- .269
- OBP
- .333
- SLG
- .391
- wRC+
- 101 100 = avg
Austin Hedges is a catcher for the Cleveland Guardians. In 2026 he hit 4 home runs and knocked in 18 RBIs, notching 42 hits across 178 plate appearances in 54 games. His batting average was .269, 10.5% higher than the league average of .244. He reached base at a .333 clip and slugged .391, for an OPS of .724, 0.7% higher than the league mark of .719 — the third best on his team, and 175th of 417 among MLB batters with 100+ plate appearances. He averaged 84.5 mph off the bat, hit 31.8% of balls in play at 95 mph or better, barrelled 4.5% of them and made contact on 77.6% of his swings. Adjusted for his ballpark and league, his 101 wRC+ puts his offence 1% above average. That comes to 1.0 dbWAR — +0.6 runs with the bat, -0.5 on the bases, +3.7 for the position he plays, against replacement level. It includes no fielding: defensive runs are proprietary and are not estimated here, so the figure credits playing a demanding position but not playing it well.
League context
Percentile among qualified batters, 2026.
How the WAR is built
Runs above replacement, 2026. These four terms sum to +9.8 runs, divided by runs-per-win to give WAR.
WAR by season
Platoon splits
How he hits left- and right-handed pitching.
| Split | PA | AB | H | HR | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs LHP | 88 | 74 | 19 | 1 | 9 | 9 | .257 | .333 | .351 | .310 | 10.2% |
| vs RHP | 90 | 82 | 23 | 3 | 6 | 21 | .280 | .333 | .427 | .334 | 23.3% |
| Split | PA | AB | H | HR | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | K% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs LHB | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | .446 | 0.0% |
| vs RHB | 8 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .223 | 12.5% |
Spray chart
Where every ball he put in play landed, 2026.
Loading 132 batted balls…
Contact quality
How hard and at what angle he hits it, over 132 tracked batted balls in 2026. Percentiles are against qualified batters.
- Barrel rate
- 4.5% 6 barrels
- Exit velocity
- 84.5 mph average
- Max exit velo
- 109.6 mph, hardest hit
- Hard hit
- 31.8% 95 mph or better
- Sweet spot
- 28.0% 8–32° launch
- Launch angle
- 9.9° average
A barrel is a batted ball whose exit velocity and launch angle have historically produced at least a .500 average and 1.500 slugging — 98 mph within 26–30°, widening to 8–50° by 116 mph. Reconstructed from Statcast's published anchor points, which reproduces them exactly; the interior is within a degree. Sweet spot (8–32°) is an exact definition.
Hot and cold zones
Batting average by pitch location, 2026.
Situational hitting
How Austin Hedges hits by base state, outs, score and late-game pressure — each read against his own season line.
| Situation | PA | AB | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All situations | 178 | — | — | — | — | — | — | .269 | .333 | .391 | .322 |
| Bases empty | 99 | 87 | 22 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 19 | .253 | .343 | .368 | .323 |
| Runner on first | 28 | 27 | 13 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | .481 | .500 | .778 | .546 |
| Runners on | 79 | 69 | 20 | 2 | 16 | 3 | 11 | .290 | .320 | .420 | .321 |
| RISP | 51 | 42 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 7 | .167 | .213 | .190 | .187 |
Runners on includes runners in scoring position, which is the convention every reference uses. Counted from play-by-play, 2026.
Pitch sequencing
What Austin Hedges throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.
Select a count to see exactly what Austin Hedges throws in it.
Pitch arsenal
What he throws, how hard, and how often it misses in 2026.
| Changeup | 15 | 70.4 | 1,719 | 33.3% | 0.0% | |
| Fastball | 13 | 71.0 | 1,848 | 53.8% | 14.3% |
Batting
Standard and advanced, by season.
| Trend | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 54 | 178 | 42 | 4 | 18 | 1 | 15 | 30 | .269 | .333 | .391 | .122 | .306 | 8.4% | 16.9% | .322 | +0.6 | 101 | 1.0 | |
| 2025 | 58 | 180 | 25 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 18 | 43 | .161 | .250 | .277 | .116 | .183 | 10.0% | 23.9% | .242 | -10.9 | 49 | -0.2 | |
| 2024 | 51 | 146 | 20 | 2 | 15 | 2 | 6 | 50 | .152 | .203 | .220 | .068 | .220 | 4.1% | 34.2% | .193 | -14.3 | 16 | -0.6 |
Pitching
Standard and advanced, by season.
| Trend | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 | 0 | 2.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6.75 | 2.34 | 1.50 | 3.4 | 0.0 | 162 | 56 | 0.1 | |
| 2025 | 3 | 0 | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6.00 | 3.47 | 2.33 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 144 | 83 | 0.0 | |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 4.67 | 0.50 | 0.0 | 4.5 | 0 | 114 | -0.0 |
Head to head
Put Austin Hedges beside up to three others.
Similar players
Nearest 2026 seasons by discipline, contact, power and speed, on rate statistics rather than totals.
wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.