Ever because the Yankees drafted Austin Wells twenty eighth total in 2020, there have been questions concerning the catcher’s protection.
Even the Yankees’ catching coordinator, Tanner Swanson, acknowledged that these issues existed when Wells left the University of Arizona. But Swanson, who will get progress studies on all the group’s catchers and retains up with what Wells is doing each day, is happy with the strides the farmhand has made.
“Sometimes it’s hard to shed those narratives or the stigma. As an industry, we’re pretty quick to label guys, especially early, as soon as you acquire them,” Swanson informed the Daily News of Wells. “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. 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.”
Swanson added that Wells, the Yankees’ eighth-best prospect on MLB.com, began a weighted ball program a couple of years in the past to enhance his arm power. However, the 24-year-old has nabbed simply 13% of base stealers this season.
Wells has additionally been charged with 10 errors and three handed balls this 12 months.
Still, Swanson mentioned, “the receiving’s really come a long way since he joined our system.”
Wells and outfielder Everson Pereira’s names got here up a couple of occasions on Friday as a result of they weren’t within the lineup at Triple-A on Thursday. But neither acquired promotions earlier than the Yankees’ collection opener towards the Red Sox. According to The Times-Tribune’s Conor Foley, Wells had an off day on Thursday, whereas Pereira was sick.
Friday marked the primary day that groups can name up prospects with out them accruing 45 days of main league service time and subsequently dropping rookie eligibility in 2024.
“Those guys are obviously knocking on the door,” Aaron Boone mentioned whereas noting that Pereira is on the 40-man roster, whereas Wells will not be. “Those are guys that are pushing their way into the conversation. So we’ll see.”
Wells, a lefty swinger, has had combined outcomes on the plate this season whereas principally taking part in at Double-A and Triple-A. He entered Friday hitting .238/.330/.424 in 85 whole video games.
He slashed .237/.327/.443 with 11 residence runs and 50 RBI over 58 video games at Double-A and .253/.344/.386 with one residence run and eight RBI over 22 video games at Triple-A.
While not eye-popping numbers, Wells might assist a Yankees offense that has persistently underwhelmed this season whereas receiving minimal manufacturing from Kyle Higashioka, Ben Rortvedt and the injured Jose Trevino.
But is Wells able to catch a serious league workers?
“That’s a tough question,” Swanson mentioned. “You never really know until you get up here and experience it. But I do know this: there’s nothing in his performance that would say that he’s not. Everything he’s done at the minor league level would suggest that he has the skills. He’s got the tools. Now it’s just about timing and opportunity.”
The coach added that the Yankees have had conversations about Wells for months, however there haven’t been any latest discussions.
Swanson famous that there are challenges to selling a catcher mid-season, because the place requires extra preparation, realizing particular person pitchers, and plenty of game-planning.
“There’s a lot of elements behind the scenes that take time to kind of develop those relationships, develop trust, understand our kind of advanced process and how we want to attack hitters,” mentioned Swanson, who complimented Wells’ work ethic. “That is a legitimate hurdle that is hard to replicate in Triple-A. It’s something that just requires time and experience. But we’re doing everything we can to try to replicate our process here in Scranton so that that learning curve can be hopefully reduced when guys get here.”
With all that in thoughts, Swanson has religion that Wells will probably be prepared every time he arrives.
“When the time comes,” Swanson mentioned, “I’m confident he’ll be in a good place.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com