Austin Wells

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Austin Kenneth Wells

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Biographical Information[edit]

Catcher Austin Wells was selected by the New York Yankees with the #28 pick in the first round of the 2020 amateur draft, out of the University of Arizona. Two years earlier, he had been drafted by the same Yankees in the 35th round of the 2018 amateur draft after graduating from Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, NV, but he chose to go on to college. At Arizona, he hit .353 as a freshman in 2019 and .375 in 2020 before the season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He made his professional debut in 2021 with the Tampa Tarpons of Low-A Southeast and was promoted to the Hudson Valley Renegades of High-A East before the end of the year. In a combined 103 games, he hit .264/.390/.476 with 16 homers and 76 RBIs and was named an organizational All-Star. He then played in the Arizona Fall League after the season. In 2022, he started the year at Hudson Valley, went down briefly to Tampa after an injury, then finished the year in the AA Eastern League with the Somerset Patriots. In 92 games, he hit .277/.385/.512 with 20 homers and 65 RBIs and was again named an organization All-Star. He was a non-roster invitee to the Yankees' major league spring training in 2023. He spent that season with three different minor league teams, Tampa, Somerset and the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. In 96 games, his batting line was .240/.333/.442 with 17 homers and 72 RBIs. He made his major league debut on September 1st alongside the team's top prospect, Jasson Domínguez, the Yankees having placed CF Harrison Bader on waivers to be able to add two players (teams were now limited to adding just one position player and one pitcher when rosters expanded that day). Domínguez stole the spotlight with a two-run homer in his first big league at-bat, but Wells did not do badly, going 1 for 4 and working well with starter Carlos Rodón in a 6-2 win over the Houston Astros. An early highlight occurred on September 26th when he homered off Jordan Romano of the Toronto Blue Jays with Gleyber Torres on first base to break a scoreless tie in the top of the 9th inning and give the Yankees a 2-0 win. He finished the season at .229 in 19 games.

In 2024, he displaced José Trevino as the Yankees' regular catcher and had a very good rookie season, hitting .229 in 115 games, with 13 homers and 55 RBIs. His OPS+ was 103 and he was sometimes used as the team's clean-up hitter due to a lack of better options. His biggest contribution though was guiding the pitching staff to the best record in the American League. In the postseason, he was the starting catcher in all three series the Yankees played, including the World Series which they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games. However, his bat went completely cold, as he was just a combined 6 for 20. He did hit a pair of homers. After the season, he finished third in the voting for the 2024 American League Rookie of the Year Award, behind teammate Luis Gil and OF Colton Cowser of the Baltimore Orioles.

On March 27, 2025, he was the first catcher in Yankees history to bat lead-off on Opening Day and made to occasion memorable by homering off Freddy Peralta of the Milwaukee Brewers to lead off the bottom of the 1st, sending the Yankees on their way to a 4-2 win. He was also the first player in franchise history to hit a lead-off homer on Opening Day.

His father, Greg Wells, also played baseball at the University of Arizona but never played professionally.

Notable Achievements[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

  • Bryan Hoch: "Wells' historic leadoff HR -- 1st for catcher on Opening Day! -- ignites Yanks", mlb.com, March 28, 2025. [1]
  • Bryan Hoch: "Young Yankees star trying out new side hustle: food influencer", mlb.com, April 6, 2025. [2]

Related Sites[edit]

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