Veteran catcher Austin Hedges, 30, made no secret of his displeasure with what he experienced in Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette introduced Hedges’ remarks on the podcast “Chris Rose Rotation” hosted by sportscaster Chris Rose on the 15th through a report on the 16th.
He said, “I hated it. “It was totally unexpected,” he said, expressing his thoughts on hearing booing when he was a Pittsburgh Pirates player.
Having agreed to a one-year contract with Pittsburgh this season, he started the season as the team’s main catcher. Although he was sluggish at bat, he was playing a role in leading young pitchers with his good defense.
Public opinion on him has changed drastically since catcher prospect Henry Davis was called up. Pittsburgh used Davis as a right fielder, not a catcher, causing misunderstanding that Hedges is blocking Davis’ growth.
At a time when the team lost 10 consecutive games and the despair of fans hit the sky, he was sluggish at bat and overlapping positions with promising players, he was the target of criticism.
Hedges said, “It’s true that it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to at-bat. However, booing suddenly began after the team called up the catcher. Did he send a group message? How did they find out?” I recalled that time.
“It’s really unpleasant to be booed by home fans,” he added. Even though I was replaced by a pinch hitter, there were fans who booed me because the music that appeared at my at-bat came out,” he recalled.
He said, “The booing really showed everyone in unison. It’s like, ‘Okay, we’ll boo every time Hedges comes out. Here we go,’ he seemed determined. I complained of unfairness, saying, “Wait, why? Is this all my fault?”
A veteran who played nine seasons in the Major League, he said, “The big league is a really difficult place, and many things happen every day. But I didn’t really know how to overcome it,” he said, expressing his embarrassment about the first situation he experienced.
Pittsburgh later called up another catcher prospect, Endy Rodriguez, and Hedges later traded to the Texas Rangers in a trade.
When he was a member of Pittsburgh, he refused all interviews with local media asking about his thoughts on booing, but he finally showed his inner feelings after leaving the team. 토토