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Padres News: Padres To Promote Austin Hedges

By Tim Richer

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In a surprising move, the San Diego Padres have decided to call up top catching prospect Austin Hedges, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune.

At this moment the related move is unknown, but it’s unlikely the Padres the would carry three catchers, so the likely roster causality is Wil Nieves.

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Hedges was ranked as the 23rd best prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus and 27th by Baseball America. He’s known for his elite defensive skills, while his offense leaves much to be desired.

In five seasons in the minors he has hit .257/.317/.392, but this year he has seen a dramatic improvement, in his first action at AAA hitting .343/.413/.552. A lot of that improvement can be attributed to the hitter friendly parks of the Pacific Coast League.

Still that much of jump, might mean he’s figured something out.

While it’s exciting to see a prospect get his chance in the big leagues, this move seems a little too soon. Derek Norris has been a key cog to this offense, but with Hedges coming up, he needs regular at bats to continue his development, and for the Padres they should want to keep Norris’ bat in the lineup. Unless Norris is headed to the DL, there’s no way to satisfy both needs.

It’ll be interesting to see how Bud Black splits the time between Norris and Hedges. I’m not sure if it all makes sense, but I am excited.

What do you guy think? Is bringing up Hedges the right now for the Padres now?

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