Yankees' Austin Wells Quickly Figuring Out Other Side

New York Yankees catcher Austin Wells has shown increasing promise at the plate lately, in addition to his consistent performance behind it. According to Wells, however, playing nine innings at catcher while trying to contribute offensively poses its own challenges, and he is still working on establishing a routine that makes his dual role sustainable.

“I think being prepared for each at-bat is a little bit more difficult,” Wells said. “Because there’s a couple of at-bats not even during the week, but during the game sometimes, where I have to focus a little extra hard before going on deck or even in the middle of the at-bat and be like, ‘What am I trying to do here?’ Just because I’m thinking about what pitches we’re throwing, we’ve thrown to the guys coming up to the plate the next inning or what reliever’s coming in and what I want to do to get ahead."

“So definitely trying to find a spot where I can separate that a little bit better and I think that’ll help me going forward. But I’ve been working on it a little bit more the last couple weeks, so I feel like I’ve been doing a little bit better than that.”

In the same interview, Wells shared that he isn't satisfied with his own performance and wants to contribute more, but it's hard to complain while the Yankees are winning and he's putting in numbers. Still, his work ethic is admirable, and the team will benefit from that growth mindset.

An exceptionally good hitter among catchers, this season Wells is on track to become the first Yankees catcher to reach 100 RBIs since Jorge Posada in 2003. He has 11 home runs, the third-most of any catcher in the league, and 42 RBIs in 57 games. He put in a standout performance in the Yankees Tuesday game against the Kansas City Royals, driving in five toward their 10-2 victory.

Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried recently credited Wells for his 4-0 shutout performance against the Cleveland Guardians on June 6, sharing that he's "been leaning on him a lot" in a postgame interview, and Aaron Judge has said that he "thinks the world of Austin as a player." At just 25 years old and with his reputation and ambition, the sky is the limit for Wells.

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