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'Gut-wrenching': Players like Austin Hedges have experienced being traded at the deadline
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- 'Gut-wrenching': Players like Austin Hedges have experienced being traded at the deadline
CLEVELAND — Dealing a player at the trade deadline can take on a lot of forms. Sometimes, it's expected and just a matter of where he might end up. Other times, players can be blindsided as deals are made with lightning speed.
As it pertains to baseball , it's all about teams constructing their rosters, some buying and some selling at the deadline, and the business of the sport. But there's a very real human element to all of it as well.
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Imagine going to work and, at 3 p.m., you're suddenly expected to report to a new office 2,000 miles away the next morning because you were traded for another person with the same title and a printer to be named later. It's a whirlwind of logistics. It's last-second packing and last-second travel with little time to mentally process it all.
Austin Hedges has been on both sides of it. The first time he was traded was to Cleveland on Aug. 31 2020, when the San Diego Padres included him in a package of players in exchange for Mike Clevinger . At the moment of the deal, Hedges had a mixed reaction. And it's difficult to see how it could be any different, all things considered.
Hedges was drafted by the Padres in 2011, worked his way through the minor leagues and then spent parts of six major league seasons with the same organization. He lived in San Diego . It was the only professional franchise he had known, and he had become close with so many teammates there.
And he wasn't expecting to be moved at the deadline. In virtually an instant, he was informed that he'd need to leave everything he'd known and pack up for Cleveland and a new organization, new clubhouse, new city.
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The second time Hedges was involved in a trade was when the Pittsburgh Pirates dealt him in 2023 to the Texas Rangers , the eventual World Series champions. The ever-rebuilding Pirates were expected to move any veteran on the roster, so that one wasn't a surprise at all, and it worked out well.
Today, looking back, Hedges is entirely grateful for both deals. But, in the moment, when thinking about the first trade that uprooted his baseball life and moved it to Cleveland in an instant, it's an example of how the trade deadline can be a dizzying whirlwind .
"The first time I got traded, I was not expecting it, and it was gut-wrenching," Hedges said of the San Diego-Cleveland deal. "It ended up being the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. … I lived in San Diego, got traded to Cleveland, hardly ever been to Cleveland, so there were two completely different [situations] and both ended up working out really well for me.
"It's difficult to just move your family, new group of guys, you've got to learn the coaching staff. Being traded is very difficult. The only thing you can hope for is that it's to a good place."
Cleveland Guardians' Steven Kwan, left, celebrates with catcher Austin Hedges after hitting a home run against the Baltimore Orioles on July 24, 2025, in Cleveland.
2025 MLB trade deadline
Most players say they try to block out all the rumors this time of year. Many will be traded, but it's a small percentage compared to how many have their names thrown around in trade rumors and whispers. Blocking all of that out might be easier said than done because of the human element of it all.
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Hedges has a unique perspective in that he's been traded in two completely different circumstances.
"When when you haven't done it before, it's very hard," he said. "I feel like if I was going to get traded, it would be significantly easier to deal with than in the past, whether it was one I wanted or one I didn't want. … It's hard to do anything when something's happened to you that you've never dealt with before. You think you have a strategy and then you've got to go try something that you really don't know."
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As the trade deadline of 6 p.m. July 31 draws closer, league activity will pick up. And many players will go through what Hedges has described for the first time. Bags will be packed. Families will be moved. Plane tickets will be secured. And those players just have to hope it's to a positive environment.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians' Austin Hedges details the experience of the trade deadline
