In their journey to repeat as American League champions, the New York Yankees need a handful of young players to step into bigger roles. Chiefly among those players is catcher Austin Wells.
The left-handed hitting catcher made some history to begin the campaign, becoming the first Yankees catcher to lead off a regular-season game. He immediately followed that up by becoming the first catcher in Major League Baseball history to hit a leadoff home run on Opening Day.
Though it’s extremely early to make solidified predictions just four games into a season, Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report predicted Wells will earn the first All-Star nod of his career as a reserve behind Seattle Mariners star Cal Raleigh and over Baltimore Orioles phenom Adley Rutschman.
“The trio of Cal Raleigh (SEA), Adley Rutschman (BAL) and Austin Wells (NYY) could battle for the starting catcher spot in the AL lineup for the foreseeable future, as all three are great two-way backstops who are well-respected across baseball,” Reuter wrote.
Right fielder Aaron Judge and second baseman Jazz Chisholm were the other Yankees to earn All-Star nods from Reuter’s prediction, both receiving a starter’s selection at their respective positions.
It would be a surprising turn for Wells to beat out both Raleigh and Rutschman, both considered to be the top catchers in the American League. However, Wells is coming off a promising rookie campaign and is on track to improve during his second season.
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Despite a .154 batting average through the first four games of the season, Wells has posted a .928 OPS with two home runs and three walks in 16 plate appearances. It’s an extremely small sample, but the early returns have been solid.
Rutschman is one of the top catchers in the game from both sides of the ball so it would take an extremely strong second half for Wells to earn the nod over the Orioles star. With that said, it’s not impossible.
We’ll see where this prediction stacks up once the season gets more underway, but Wells will be a player to watch over the next three months as the voting begins.
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