KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Most of Austin Wells’ teammates were already long gone when he walked back into the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium late Tuesday night, his shoulder wrapped in ice.
The Yankees catcher has a long postgame treatment routine he goes through on most nights, not because he is necessarily dealing with an injury, but because this is what it takes to get through the grind of being behind the plate for nine innings most nights and then trying to add some offense on top of it.
It is a demanding position, especially for the Yankees, who put a premium on their catchers being able to game plan and frame pitches to help steal strikes. It is consuming, too, to the point where sometimes it throws Wells for a loop when it is his turn to step up to the plate instead of behind it.
“I think being prepared for each at-bat is a little bit more difficult,” he 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.”
The results would indicate that. After going 1-for-4 with an RBI double in the Yankees’ 6-3 win over the Royals on Wednesday, Wells is batting .311 (14-for-45) with a .973 OPS over his past 13 games.
That included a standout night in Tuesday’s 10-2 win over Kansas City, in which two of Wells’ at-bats combined for 19 pitches and five RBIs — a three-run homer in a nine-pitch at-bat against lefty Noah Cameron and a two-run double in a 10-pitch at-bat against righty Taylor Clarke.
“It’s hard, especially [because] he catches a lot of games and he’s back there,” Max Fried said. “I can’t imagine how tiring that is game in, game out, but he puts together really good quality at-bats every game. Especially [Tuesday], hitting in the nine hole, that’s a big power threat there.”
Wells is not entirely sure what to make of his offensive season so far. He entered Thursday batting .228 with a .293 on-base percentage and .769 OPS, but with 11 home runs and 42 RBIs. If he stays healthy all season, it puts him on pace for 27 home runs and 103 RBIs.
“But it doesn’t really feel like that with how it’s going,” Wells said. “Yeah, it’s interesting.
“I mean, I’d like to see some more balls fall and find some grass. I’m not satisfied with where I’m at, but we’re winning and that’s good. I’d like to contribute more.”
The Yankees would certainly take that, especially after seeing what a hot-hitting Wells can do for their lineup like he did for a stretch last summer. He wants to be on base more and be more consistent.
But it is hard to take issue with the overall impact he has made so far — ranking fifth in the majors in Catcher Framing Runs and consistently being lauded by his pitchers for his work with them while bolstering the Yankees’ run production with a chance to be their first catcher to reach 100 RBIs in a season since Jorge Posada in 2003.
“I think he can really hit,” manager Aaron Boone said. “If that shows up in average, [if] it shows up in some power and on-base, I think he’s going to be a productive major league hitter, especially when you consider it’s at the catcher position. He’s capable of a lot offensively. I still think he’s just tapping into some of his stuff and still gaining experience, but he’s a talented offensive player.”
