San Diego Padres: Three Bold Predictions For 2018

San Diego Padres Bold Prediction No. 1 – Austin Hedges will have a breakout season

We’ve all heard of San Diego Padres projected starting catcher Austin Hedges’ defensive exploits. After only a year in baseball, Hedges is already considered one of the best backstops in all of MLB. This season, I say he’s going to break out on the offensive side of his game.

Last season Hedges was not quite the offensive powerhouse he was in Tripe-A El Paso the previous season (.326/.353/.597, 21 HR, 82 RBI, 20 doubles) but he performed as well as a rookie catcher can be expected to in his first full season in the majors.

Hedges’ paltry .214 batting average and even-wimpier .262 on-base percentage are certainly areas where we can expect to see an improvement. Although his power numbers were a great sign last year (18 HR, 55 RBI, 20 doubles), he’s going to need to get back to basics and find a way to get on base more, bottom line.

If Austin Hedges can make the type of improvements in his second major league season that he was able to make during his developmental years in the San Diego Padres farm system, we could see an absolute beast emerge from behind the plate for the Friars.