Guardians catcher Austin Hedges fined for criticism of umpires, replay officials

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — MLB has fined catcher Austin Hedges an undisclosed amount for his criticism of the umpires and replay officials after Tuesdays loss to the Tigers at Progressive Field.

Hedges was informed of the fine by Michael Hill, MLBs senior vice president of field operations. When asked about the fine, Hedges said, I have no comment.

In Tuesdays 4-3 loss to the Tigers, Hedges tagged out Javy Baez at the plate to end the first inning. The Tigers challenged the out call and replay officials overturned the ruling on the field. In doing so the Tigers received a run and the Guardians had to come back on the field to get the third out of the inning.

The Tigers, by the time the inning ended, had a 3-0 lead.

After the game, Hedges told reporters, First of all, it cost (us) the game.

Its a play thats been called a few times now recently that really has never been called before. For some reason, New York feels like they need to take over the game and change the way the games played.

Guys are just out. Theres plays at home that are beating the runners, and for 150 years youre out. And now, were calling some type of rule that is really tricky to define. To be able to take the game into their own hands that way and to, first of all, that cost one run automatically. And then what ended up transitioning. Honestly, its a disgrace. Its embarrassing.

I think New York owes Zach Plesac specifically an apology because they took the game out of his hands. The guy was throwing the ball amazing. Overturning that call right there, like I said, it cost the game.

I dont need to get into the rest of the debacle with the umpires because it was a really, really poor job executed by them. Its too bad. Its too bad when we play a sport where we get held accountable. Where we say something, we get held accountable, we get mocked, we get shamed. Theres no accountability on their part right now. And thats really, really sad. I dont know why, but there needs to be a little bit of, you know we talk about equality in this world right now, there aint no equality with that. These guys are going out there with no responsibilities.

They say OK, here’s a play where I can show my power. Heres a play where I can take over the game. And thats not the game that we play. Thats not the game that weve played for forever. They’re trying to take over the game and they’re trying to change the game. And its disappointing. For a team that goes out there and fights every single night to win every game, for it to cost us a game when were trying to win a division, were trying to make the playoffs. Were trying to do something special. For that to be taken out of our hands like that is a disgrace and its extremely disappointing. Im disappointed and thats all I have to say. Thank you.

MLB has decided to crackdown on the home-plate collision rule that was introduced in 2014. Since Aug. 7 three out calls at the plate have been overturned, charging the catcher with blocking the plate and awarding the challenging team a run. For the season eight such reversals have been made, the most since 2014.

MLB adopted the after catcher Buster Posey was seriously injured in a collision at the plate in 2011. The rule says a catcher cannot block the plate unless hes in possession of the ball. It also says a catcher must give the runner a lane to the plate.

Last week the MLB Association issued a statement complaining that they were being unfairly criticized for enforcing the rule.

Earlier in the month, according to ESPN, several teams asked MLB for clarity on the rule. A memo was sent to MLBd 30 teams. Part of the memo said, Recently we have seen catchers taking advantage of runners they expect will slide by moving into the running lane without possession of the ball in violation of Rule 6.01(i)(2). Such conduct only invites runners to collide with catchers, causing potential injury to players in a manner that the rule was designed to prevent. Catchers may not block the pathway of runners unless they are in possession of the ball, or in the act of fielding the ball.

In part, the umpires statement said, Its simple: dont block home plate without possession of the baseball or change the rule. The statement went on to say, It is the catchers responsibility not to position himself so as to block home plate without the ball.

Plate umpire Lance Barksdale, who called Baez out Tuesday night, said replay officials reversed his call because they ruled that Hedges was blocking the plate without the ball.

They said the catcher did not give the runner the lane, Barksdale said. He blocked the plate from the beginning.

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