The New York Yankees have five catchers contending for their Opening Day roster, but there may not be space for all of them to remain.
Jose Trevino and Austin Wells are expected to carry the bulk of the responsibility behind the plate in 2024.
The now-injured Gerrit Cole spoke about his developing camaraderie with the 24-year-old Wells ahead of Spring Training. He also has an 18-9 record and 2.79 ERA in 44 games where Trevino has caught for him.
Outside of the two, the Yankees also have Ben Rortvedt, Luis Torrens and Omar Martinez to consider.
Yankees have three promising catchers to evaluate as Spring Training nears its end
That is why Yankees general manager Brian Cashman came out and issued this statement on Saturday, as Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post published:
“Everybody’s actually done a great job showcasing their abilities, not just for us but for others. So clearly a dam is going to break one way or the other toward the end of camp, so we’ll see how we navigate that,” Cashman said.
Rortvedt has seniority in New York over Torrens. No matter, the latter and Martinez have both displayed more prowess at the plate than Rortvedt. Martinez hit 18 home runs for the Tampa Tarpons in Single-A last year while Torrens is only three seasons removed from a 15-homer outing in 2021 with the Chicago Cubs.
Thus far, Torrens has impressed with a .316 batting average and an eye-catching 1.065 OPS in Spring Training. He outpaces Rortvedt with two home runs and three RBI’s as opposed to empty stats for the latter.
Will Luis Torrens make the final 26-man roster?
Torrens also has a solid defensive pedigree to give Cashman and Yankees manager Aaron Boone a reason to deliberate his worthiness to crack the final 26-man roster.
The Yankees open things up on March 28 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Their strength at catcher will be paramount to their World Series push in 2024.