The August third commerce deadline is over a month and a half away, and the Guardians sit simply half a recreation again of the upstart White Sox within the AL Central. Though impactful trades are not possible at this stage, groups are nonetheless beginning their due diligence on opposing gamers to organize for deadline season. Some are all for Cleveland’s younger catchers, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic experiences the workforce has fielded calls on Bo Naylor, Cooper Ingle, and Kody Huff.
All three gamers are at the moment at Triple-A. Naylor is the one one with large league expertise, having appeared in 346 video games for Cleveland since debuting in 2022. He’s batted .199/.279/.372 with an 82 wRC+ in that point. Ingle is the workforce’s No. 3 prospect and a Prime-100 prospect in all of baseball, in line with MLB.com. He’s doing exceedingly properly at Triple-A this yr, with a 161 wRC+ in 179 plate appearances. Huff has the least pedigree of the three, however he’s additionally hitting properly. Ingle and Huff are usually not on Cleveland’s 40-man roster.
Rosenthal doesn’t specify the extent of the talks, although they’re greater than probably simply early check-ins from opposing golf equipment. The Guardians are in a precarious spot so far as their main league catchers go. Naylor received a lot of the begins within the early going, however he solely put up a 22 wRC+ earlier than being optioned down on Could ninth. Austin Hedges and Patrick Bailey are the present tandem behind the plate. The previous’s 98 wRC+ is properly above his profession norms, whereas the latter’s .154/.207/.238 output could be unplayable at some other place. Each Hedges and Bailey are lauded for his or her protection, however neither is a robust choice on offense.
Total, Guardians catchers are batting .210/.265/.326 with a 65 wRC+. That mark is fifth-worst within the Majors and properly beneath the 89 wRC+ put up by catchers across the league. With the AL Central being a weak division, the membership is probably going fascinated about methods to improve the roster and pull forward of the remainder of the group. Given their Backside-5 payroll, inside upgrades could be essentially the most environment friendly approach to obtain that.
All that’s to say that Cleveland has each a surplus of catching depth in addition to a necessity for extra offense on the large league degree. Ingle, particularly, has the prospect pedigree and higher minors monitor report to warrant a promotion in some unspecified time in the future. He’d want to determine himself in opposition to main league pitching, however Hedges and Bailey’s weak hitting is motive sufficient for Ingle to get a shot.
Naylor and Huff would discover themselves decrease on the depth chart in that state of affairs. Whereas Naylor holds some worth as a younger participant (he’s solely 26) who’s controllable for there years past this one, he merely hasn’t established himself offensively within the Majors. Naylor had a 123 wRC+ in 230 plate appearances in 2023, however he has only a 74 wRC+ in 893 PA from 2024-26. He’s additionally a lesser choice on protection in comparison with Hedges and Bailey, with Naylor declining to 1 Defensive Run Saved in 2025 following an 11 DRS season the yr prior.
All informed, it’s notable that Naylor has been relegated to Triple-A for the final month and alter, with the Guards accepting the shortage of offense from Hedges and Bailey. As for Huff, he’s improved tremendously on offense, with a 144 wRC+ at Triple-A this yr in comparison with a 71 wRC+ in 2025. That stated, he’s not thought-about a prime prospect and profiles as a depth piece at greatest. Theoretically, that might depart Huff and Naylor as essentially the most expendable out of the three catchers talked about by Rosenthal.
Rosenthal clarifies that the Guardians may not be in a rush to deal from their catching depth. The free agent market is projected to be weak, with not one of the catchers being youthful than 30 in 2027. In that context, Cleveland may take into account holding on to their depth and checking out the logjam through the offseason when demand will nonetheless be favorable. Hedges is a free agent after this season, whereas Bailey is beneath management via 2029. Assuming Hedges leaves, that might open a spot for Ingle on the large league roster, with Naylor and Huff sticking at Triple-A in the event that they don’t find yourself being traded.
