Defense is the key for Austin Wells to really catch on with the Yankees, according to former catcher Jorge Posada.
Wells, a 2020 first-round pick and one of the Yankees’ top prospects, is set to start the 2024 season as the team’s No. 2 catcher behind Jose Trevino after earning valuable MLB experience down the stretch last year.
“He looks like he’s very smart back there,” Posada, a five-time All-Star with the Yankees, told the Daily News. “[Being] a left-handed hitter is going to help out a lot in Yankee Stadium. … Defense, for him, has got to be No. 1. I think he understands that. Trevino’s going to help him a lot. Trevino does a hell of a job of [putting] defense first. Pitching, for us, is No. 1, so he’s got to realize that we’ve got to get our pitchers deep into the game.”
Wells, 24, earned a reputation as a plus hitter in the minor leagues, where he recorded 17 home runs and 72 RBI in 96 games across three levels last year. He made his MLB debut in September and batted .229 with four home runs in 70 at-bats.
MLB Pipeline ranks Wells as the Yankees’ No. 5 prospect, saying he “worked hard to improve his receiving and blocking” and that he “runs a pitching staff well.” “The biggest concern is his questionable arm strength and throwing accuracy,” the scouting report reads.
Posada said he has not met Wells, whom new Yankees bench coach and former MLB catcher Brad Ausmus recently said “wants to be a very good catcher” and has “done well, from a statistical standpoint, defensively in spring training.”
Wells and Trevino are tasked with supporting a pitching staff that will start the season without ace Gerrit Cole as he recovers from nerve inflammation and edema in his right elbow.
“You can’t think of the guys that are out,” said Posada, who spoke to The News during a press day for his new commercials in Miller Lite’s rebooted “Great Taste, Less Filling” campaign.
“You’ve got to think of the team that you have on the field, and you’ve just got to take on that challenge of, ‘We are good enough. We have a great team and we’ve got to go out there and do everything we can so when those guys come back, we’re in a good position to keep competing.’”
Posada believes the Yankees are poised to contend after a busy offseason that included adding Juan Soto and Trent Grisham in a blockbuster trade with the San Diego Padres.
“Cole is going to be missed for a little bit, but I think the team is good enough as of now,” Posada said. “I just feel like if they need anything, they’ll go out and get somebody, but I think they did everything that they needed to do. They wanted to [have] a little bit more left-handed power. Obviously, getting Soto and getting Grisham is going to help a lot, but there are some key pieces in that lineup that I think need to stay on the field.”
