Austin Hedges turned a Sunday win into a moment he will remember for the rest of his life. After the Cleveland Guardians beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-4 at Progressive Field, Hedges got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend on the field.
Joe Noga, a Cleveland.com beat writer, posted a photo of the couple celebrating on the field on X and wrote, “Congrats to Hedgey and the future Mrs.: Guardians catcher Austin Hedges proposes at Progressive Field after win over Orioles.” The scene came after a game that left Cleveland at 13-10 and still in the middle of the American League Central race.
For Hedges, 33, the moment added a personal milestone to a season that has already included a small but solid start at the plate. Through nine games in 2026, he was hitting.292 with a.708 OPS. The catcher has long been valued in clubhouses for his leadership with the pitching staff as much as for his offense, and he has spent parts of 15 seasons in professional baseball.
Hedges was originally drafted by the San Diego Padres in the second round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, California. He was also part of the Texas Rangers organization when they won the 2023 World Series, another stop in a career that has stretched across multiple contenders and several roles.
The proposal gave Progressive Field an ending that had nothing to do with the standings. Cleveland got the win it needed, and Hedges left the ballpark with something far bigger than an 8-4 result.