Austin Charles Hedges (born August 18, 1992) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is 6 feet 1 inch tall. He made his MLB debut with the San Diego Padres in 2015.
Hedges was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the second round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft out of JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, California. He had committed to UCLA, but signed with the Padres for $3 million.
Prior to the 2012 season, Baseball America ranked Hedges as the Padres fifth-best prospect. Playing for the Fort Wayne TinCaps of the Midwest League, Hedges hit .279/.334/.451 with 10 home runs in 96 games. Scouts considered Hedges to be a stand-out defender who had surprised them with his batting at Class-A.
In 2018, Hedges again began the season as the Padres regular catcher, backed up by A. J. Ellis. He was placed on the disabled list on May 1 with right elbow tendinitis and had his initial rehab assignment cut short by lingering soreness.
He returned to action with the Padres on June 24 and remained as the primary catcher for the rest of the season, splitting time in September with call-up Francisco Mejía.
On August 31, 2020, the Padres traded Hedges, along with Josh Naylor, Cal Quantrill, and minor league players Gabriel Arias, Owen Miller, and Joey Cantillo, to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for Mike Clevinger, Greg Allen, and Matt Waldron. Overall with Cleveland in 2020, Hedges batted .083 with no home runs and 0 RBIs in 6 games.