Padres: 3 teams who could trade for Austin Hedges

We look at three teams who could be interested in trading for Austin Hedges this offseason, and what the San Diego Padres could get in return.

There is a lot of talk this offseason about the San Diego Padres possibly trading catcher Austin Hedges.

It makes some sense with the 27-year-old catcher likely to get another boost in arbitration this offseason and with Francisco Mejia set to get most of the work behind the plate in 2020.

But that certainly doesn’t mean the Padres are just looking to trade Hedges for the sake of trading him.

I think the reason behind it is because they believe he still holds a lot of value for other teams and could bring them something decent back in return.

Hedges is known as a great defensive catcher. FanGraphs had him with a 27.3 Def WAR rating in 2019. But at the same time, he had a -24 offensive rating.

He’s hitting just .201 in 1,163 Major League at-bats. However, he has hit double-digit home runs in three straight seasons now.

Hedges has three years of team control left and there will be teams out there who think they can unleash his offensive potential.

Even if he could just hit .230-.240 with 15 home runs, Hedges could turn himself into a really solid catcher with what he does defensively and calling a game.

There will be a number of teams who could have interest in him this offseason betting on a turnaround.