Luis Gil may have made headlines for winning AL Rookie of the Year, but he wasn’t the only prized rookie for the New York Yankees last season. Catcher Austin Wells came third in voting for the award, though his impact on the team was far more widespread than any hardware may suggest.
Promising Season Ahead for Yankees Catcher
2024 was the first full season for the 25-year-old from Scottsdale, Arizona. Sharing duties behind the dish with veteran Jose Trevino, Wells appeared in 115 games, starting 96 of them. The rookie struggled to begin the year, finishing May with an OPS of .598 and just 5 RBIs. Despite these startling offensive numbers, Wells impressed manager Aaron Boone with his defensive prowess. The Yankee skipper acknowledged the growing pains of a young player and advised skeptics to trust the process.
As it turned out, Boone was absolutely right: Wells had a magnificent second half of the season and may be on his way to an even bigger season next year.
Huge Second Half
Coming up through the minors, scouts evaluated Wells as being more of a power-hitting catcher whose lack of fielding skills may call for a move to first base. He immediately proved them wrong last season; according to Baseball Savant, Wells ranked in the 96th percentile of FRV (fielding run value) amongst the majors. And though he did shine behind the plate in his rookie campaign, where he truly impressed was in the batter’s box.
Things started to look up for Wells in June, but from July onwards, he was nothing but a nightmare for opposing pitchers. Across July and August, he slashed .303/.389/.549 with 29 RBIs and 9 homers. This is all the more impressive considering he only started 25 games over that stretch. He fell off the wagon a bit in September and into the postseason, but this dominance proved his status as a legitimate threat on both sides of the ball.
Projections for 2025
Before each season begins, Baseball Reference lists their projected stats for both teams and individual players alike. For Austin Wells, they project that he will hit .240/.319/.413 with 14 home runs and 55 RBIs over 415 PA (approx. 105 games). Considering he will likely hit near the middle/bottom of the order to make room for newcomers Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt, these numbers aren’t too bad for a sophomore catcher.
Of course, he may exceed these numbers very well and have a monstrous season. Like we saw last summer, Wells can be a serious problem for pitchers; and now that he’s more acclimated to major league-level pitching, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he could hit 25-30 home runs with an OPS above .800 (barring injuries, of course).
Even if the offense isn’t there like the Yankees hope it will be, he will still provide invaluable defense as one of the league’s best framers and blockers. Again, he’ll likely only get even better with more experience and time spent behind the plate. Yankees brass and fans alike should be very excited to watch Wells this upcoming season, as he very well could establish himself as one of MLB’s best catchers.
Main Photo Credits: John Jones-Imagn Images
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