NEW YORK — Austin Wells whipped open his laptop computer. It was June 2020. The New York Yankees had simply drafted him within the first spherical, and as an alternative of beginning his profession, he was caught inside as a result of the coronavirus pandemic had shut down the minor-league season.
Bored at his childhood dwelling in Las Vegas, Wells was all Netflix-ed out. So he pointed his cursor to the Google search bar and commenced to kind:
Greatest Yankees catchers of all-time…
He hit enter.
Immediately, photographs from the distant previous started to fill the display screen.
There was Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra. There was Elston Howard and Thurman Munson. There was Jorge Posada.
Wells’ eyes widened. He leaned nearer.
It was precisely what he was searching for.
“I thought it was important to research and get to know the team as well as the position I’ll be a part of,” he mentioned.
It was simply the beginning of Wells’ private, ongoing crash course into the Yankees’ catching tree, which has produced two Hall of Famers and seen 25 All-Star video games began by pinstriped backstops.
Despite rising up a fan of the Boston Red Sox, Wells grew to become an prompt convert.
He hopes to be talked about among the many Yankees’ biggest catchers sometime.
“It’s a rich history,” he mentioned.
For now, Wells will merely must accept what he’s grow to be: An out-of-nowhere contender for the American League Rookie of the Year on a first-place crew determined for a World Series win.
Entering Monday, Wells is hitting .247 with 50 RBIs and a .760 OPS. His 13 dwelling runs are the second-most in a single season by a rookie catcher in franchise history, behind Gary Sánchez’s 20 in 2016. Wells’ 3.6 fWAR is essentially the most amongst AL rookies, simply forward of the Baltimore Orioles’ Colton Cowser (3.5 fWAR), who began the season sizzling however has cooled considerably.
Wells has performed simply 105 video games in comparison with Cowser’s 142. Wells cut up time behind the plate with Jose Trevino till mid-July when Trevino went on the IL. Since then, Wells’ potent bat within the cleanup spot and surprisingly regular protection have pressured the Yankees to present him the beginning job.
And Wells ranks third in catcher framing runs (11) and fielding run worth (12) amongst major-league catchers, in accordance with Baseball Savant.
Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone mentioned he believed Wells needs to be “right at the top or certainly worthy of being named Rookie of the Year.”
“He’s been outstanding,” Boone mentioned. “(He’s) such a key cog in the middle of the order for the last few months (and) really coming into his own as a hitter and all the while doing it at such a critical position.”
Over the course of days in the summertime of 2020, Wells learn story after story about Yankees catchers from years previous.
He had all the time heard about Berra — how he was an ideal participant and all of the quirky quotes hooked up to him — however he didn’t know that Berra had served as a gunner’s mate within the Navy on D-Day.
“Super badass,” Wells mentioned.
Wells additionally liked that Berra performed 19 seasons, and that Dickey had performed for the 17 seasons earlier than Berra.
Wells continues to teach himself on the Yankees’ rich catching history, which incorporates Bill Dickey (standing), Yogi Berra (entrance left) and Elston Howard (fourth from left). (Getty Images)
“Dickey held it down basically all the way until Yogi came, and then Yogi held it down,” Wells mentioned. “Those guys being the backstops for almost 40 years — I thought that was pretty special, pretty cool to read about.”
Wells was thrilled to study how Howard grew to become the Yankees’ first Black participant in 1955.
He devoured something he might about Munson, too. Wells hadn’t recognized about how Munson died after the airplane he was flying crashed on Aug. 2, 1979. He hadn’t recognized that he was the Yankees’ captain on the time. Wells mentioned he watched a number of YouTube movies about Munson, the crash and the way his loss of life reverberated all through the franchise and the town.
“Just tragic,” Wells mentioned.
But he additionally discovered inspiration in Munson. When Wells noticed that Munson hit .302 in 132 video games in his first full season within the majors, he advised himself he wished to be identical to that.
“He was such an impactful player right away with the team, which is something that I wanted to do,” he mentioned.
Asked whether or not his mustache was a homage to Munson’s, Wells mentioned it wasn’t, however that he didn’t thoughts individuals making that connection.
Then there was Posada, a four-time World Series champion and borderline Hall of Famer.
“The offensive capability that he had, just the way that he commanded that staff every time he was behind the plate — I didn’t know he played 17 seasons, which is nowadays kind of unheard of for a catcher,” Wells mentioned. “For him to do that, that was kind of the main takeaway.
“He could hit, he could call a game and he was a winner — three things that I would love to do.”
At Old-Timer’s Day in August, Posada mentioned he had been watching Wells carefully this season. He was impressed.
“He looks like he’s a lot more comfortable,” Posada mentioned, “especially behind the plate. He’s very good at keeping the plan for the pitchers. He goes out there and he looks like he has a very good idea of taking that time, and talking to the pitcher. So, he’s good back there. I like the way he calls the game. His timing is very good.”
Hitting coach James Rowson was a minor-league hitting coordinator within the Yankees system for a number of years towards the top of Posada’s profession. He mentioned he noticed similarities between Posada and Wells.
“Jorge was intense and he wanted to win,” Rowson mentioned. “The similarities to me are more in the makeup of the men. That tenacity they both have. There’s that spark in there that gets other guys going around them.”
But what would Wells, who nonetheless nerds out on Yankees catching history, need somebody to study him in the event that they researched him a long time from now?
“Just hard-working 100 percent effort all the time,” Wells mentioned. “No matter how he felt, no matter what was going on, you were going to get the best out of him.
“I feel like that is probably the best compliment when I hear someone talk about a player. It’s about how hard they worked and how much they lifted their teammates up around them. It’s kind of what I hope to give off as a player.”
Much just like the greats Wells continues to review.
(Top picture of Austin Wells: G Fiume / Getty Images)
