HOUSTON — When the coronavirus outbreak shut down the faculty baseball season, and the whole lot else in 2020, a scary thought crossed Jay Johnson’s thoughts.
“The world is ending,” Johnson, then the top coach at Arizona, instructed the Daily News. “COVID happens, they canceled the College World Series, and my first thought was, ‘Austin Wells ain’t gonna be on my team anymore.’”
Indeed, Wells’ sophomore season with the Wildcats lasted simply 15 video games. The Yankees’ first-round decide in 2020, Wells noticed his taking part in profession at Arizona finish with the beginning of the pandemic.
Johnson, now operating the present at LSU, lamented the lack of certainly one of his favourite pupils.
“He’s one of the best players that I’ve ever recruited and coached, and [that includes] a lot of guys in the major leagues right now,” Johnson mentioned. “So that tells you what I think of Austin.”
There’s fairly a little bit of expertise on Johnson’s resume. With extra teaching stops at Point Loma Nazarene, San Diego and Nevada, he has assisted 27 main leaguers and 61 MLB draft picks, in response to his LSU bio. That checklist contains Seattle’s Paul Sewald, Colorado’s Kris Bryant, and the primary two picks within the 2023 draft, Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes and Washington’s Dylan Crews, who helped Johnson win this 12 months’s nationwide championship.
Wells will grow to be the most recent Johnson disciple to achieve the majors when the 24-year-old makes his anticipated debut for the Yankees on Friday in Houston. The crew, already evaluating its youth towards the tip of a disastrous season, plans on selling the catcher and heart fielder Jasson Domínguez. Wells is ranked eighth within the Yankees’ system, whereas Domínguez is ranked second, in response to MLB.com.
Domínguez, nicknamed The Martian, is the extra hyped prospect of the 2, because the 20-year-old’s arrival has been anticipated in Yankeeland ever since he signed a $5.1 million contract on the age of 16. But Wells might be the crew’s future behind the plate, and his left-handed swing figures to be a slot in Yankee Stadium.
“Incredible hitter,” Johnson mentioned. “Incredibly strong. He was always advanced physically for his age, and in a good way. I mean, he was strong, physical, more athletic. One of those guys that’s the best hitter on the field no matter what field he showed up on.”
That gained’t be the case when Wells takes the sphere at Minute Maid Park on Friday, as he’ll share the diamond with the likes of Aaron Judge and Yordan Alvarez, amongst others. But Johnson hasn’t anxious about Wells’ offense since he clubbed a three-run homer in his first collegiate at-bat as a freshman.
Wells “never slowed down” after that, Johnson mentioned, and the Yankees noticed that first-hand because the Las Vegas native climbed the minor league ranks. Wells spent most of this season at Double-A and Triple-A after struggling a fractured rib in spring coaching. He hit .240/.333/.442 with 24 doubles, 17 house runs and 72 RBI over 96 complete minor league contests.
Wells solely spent 33 video games at Triple-A, the place he slashed .254/.349/.452 with 10 doubles, 5 house runs and 20 RBI. His hitting coach at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre mentioned that studying to adapt to pitchers who’re at all times tinkering can be Wells’ greatest problem within the majors.
“Nobody’s ever ready for the next level,” Trevor Amicone instructed The News. “The solely factor you might be is able to go up there, compete and modify once you inevitably fail and undergo it.
“When the league adjusts to them, can they adjust to the league? Wells is close. He’s getting to that point. He’s doing the work, that’s for sure.”
Wells has additionally put in a ton of labor behind the plate. There have been questions on his protection and arm energy ever because the Yankees drafted him.
Wells, who underwent surgical procedure on his throwing elbow in highschool, caught simply 13% of base-stealers within the minors this season. He additionally recorded 11 errors and 5 handed balls.
Aaron Boone lately mentioned that Wells may get some appears to be like at first base sooner or later — he performed there a bit in school — whereas including that the catcher is “not a finished product.” But the supervisor additionally mentioned that Wells has “made a lot of really good strides defensively” as a catcher, the one place he has performed as a professional.
The Yankees’ catching coordinator, Tanner Swanson, lately praised Wells’ progress as a backstop.
“He definitely had question marks defensively when we got him, but he’s done nothing but perform defensively since he’s been in our system,” Swanson instructed The News. “So there’s been a lot of really, really positive signs of his growth as a receiver, a blocker. The arm has come a long way since college.”
Johnson, in the meantime, noticed Wells commit himself to the craft of catching in school regardless of making a reputation for himself along with his swing.
“His hitting was so advanced as a young player. That’s what drew everyone’s attention. If he was a ready-made catch and throw guy out of high school, he would have gone high in the first round,” Johnson mentioned. “And so I used to be very impressed with the quantity of effort and time that he put into growing himself as a defender and as a catcher. He actually improved all through the tip of his freshman season and the shortened 15-game season as a sophomore. He was doing an amazing job behind the plate for us.
“If he’s improved as much as he did between Year 1 and Year 2 with us over the last three years, then he will be fine.”
Johnson strongly believes that Wells wouldn’t be a Yankee if not for the pandemic. He feels the previous Wildcat would have performed his means up within the draft had the 2020 season not come to an abrupt finish.
In that sense, Johnson’s loss turned the Yankees’ acquire.
Now the coach is keen to see Wells on a significant league discipline. With the varsity 12 months simply starting, Johnson couldn’t make it to Houston for Wells’ debut weekend, however the two shared celebratory texts on Wednesday evening.
Johnson foresees Wells turning into a “staple” in New York for years to come back, “and I think that’s going to be a great thing for the Yankees.”
But first, Wells has to log his first large league recreation. Johnson by no means doubted he would.
“He’s one of those guys that’s built his life around baseball, if that makes sense,” the proud coach mentioned. “To see this first dream realized for him is awesome. And at the same time, not surprised at all. I always viewed it with Austin, it was only a matter of time.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com