The Yankees played their 90th game of the season on Friday night, with Austin Wells making his 45th start as catcher and matching Jose Trevino for the win.
But with the lineup struggling outside of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, Wells’ left-handed hitting could make a bigger impact.
The Yankees have weathered tough times starting left-handed pitchers in seven of their last nine games and eight of their last 13, with Trevino starting every single one of them during that stretch.
With the team facing a plethora of right-handed pitchers, including three games against the Red Sox this weekend, Wells’ minutes will increase, but manager Aaron Boone suggested they will still be distributed fairly evenly.
“I think Austin’s going to see more action now that the left-handed streak is over,” Boone said Friday before the series opener against the Red Sox in the Bronx. “It looks like the right-handed pitchers are going to be coming in. But not all right-handed pitchers are the same, and not all left-handed pitchers are the same. … I think they’re going to see a lot more action from both of them, just like they’ve basically split the positions all year.”
The Yankees are impressed with Trevino, who will be catching for Gerrit Cole on Saturday afternoon, and his ability to control pitchers and set up pitches despite an exposed arm last time he faced the Red Sox (they allowed nine stolen bases in one game against him).
But Wells has made great strides as a catcher, becoming one of the top five pitch framers in the game (Trevino tops the list according to Baseball Savant’s metric), and he’s also starting to hit like he was known for while coming up through the minor leagues.
Wells was batting .275 with a .938 OPS in his past 17 games, 11 of which were starts, prior to Friday’s appearance. He had reached base in each of his past 12 starts and had homered twice in his past three starts.
“I’m still trying to figure it out, like we all are,” Wells said, “but I feel good every day going into the game with my approach and I know I have the most confidence in my ability to go out there and compete. I’m just going to try to go out there every day and keep doing that and not lose sight of our goal, which is to win.”
Not playing every day has been an adjustment for Wells, who suggested he’s gotten better at preparing like he’s going to play every day, whether he plays or not.
But he has mostly had competitive at-bats throughout that span, something a Yankees lineup desperately needs with Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo out with injuries.
“He’s a really young guy that we feel has a chance to be a really good hitter in this league,” Boone said, “and he’s probably getting a little more comfortable with the big leaguers attacking him and being here and having a plan to put him in the lineup.”
“I feel like he’s really taking competitive at-bats, and when he does that, it’s going to show his power, so that’s really nice. It’s going to show his patience, and he’s shown it a little bit. He’s not afraid to go long in the count, and he’s got a pretty good eye. I’m excited to see him develop into the next level of an offensive player.”
Boone could use Wells as a designated hitter to get more at-bats while Stanton is out, but he hasn’t indicated he plans to do so, and Friday said Aaron Judge will likely handle “a lot” of designated hitter duties over the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, Wells, who is tied with Trevino for league average in stolen base prevention rate, was looking forward to taking on the Red Sox on the bases this weekend.
“It’s a fun challenge, to be honest with you,” Wells said. “When you’re facing somebody that you know is going to run at you, it creates a little more intensity behind the catcher, not necessarily more focus, and I always encourage that. … The pitchers and myself and Trevy are looking forward to trying to find a little bit of balance in this series.”
