Austin Wells has been on a tear, as the Yankees‘ 2020 1st Round Pick entered the All-Star Break with four home runs and a 164 wRC+ over his last 16 games, showing off the home run potential we all knew he had. During that streak, the Yankees have played mostly uninspiring baseball, but I think this tweak could be the secret to Wells finding it at the plate and becoming a bigger contributor to this lineup. The left-handed hitting catcher got off to a slow start this season at the plate, but as he’s refined his glove behind the plate he’s finally clicking with the bat.
Very sneakily, Austin Wells has changed his load at the plate, and it’s resulting in a massive change for him that could take this offense to the next level.
How A Small Change Has Led to Austin Wells Powering the Yankees’ Lineup
Something was very wrong with Austin Wells for most of the season, as he didn’t strike out a ton, worked his walks, and could do damage on contact but couldn’t put up solid results. For most left-handed hitters, Yankee Stadium is a heavenly place to hit home runs thanks to the short porch in right field, but for Austin Wells, it was a house of horrors, and on June 22nd his season hit a new low. After getting hot in late April, the 24-year-old catcher fell back into a nasty slump, but this time it wasn’t due to bad luck.
With a .560 OPS and 31.3% strikeout rate in 21 games, Austin Wells wouldn’t get another at-bat until June 25th in a pinch-hitting appearance against the New York Mets. The biggest problem for Austin Wells was that he too was a walking contradiction offensively. A left-handed hitter who didn’t pull the ball in the air, he had only two pulled flyballs all season through his first 45 games, which explained having only two home runs despite being a power-hitting catcher throughout his Minor League career.
This is not the kind of spray chart that a left-handed hitter should have, and all of those deep flyouts that weren’t home runs are easier to understand since the majority of them were struck to the furthest parts of a ballpark. It seemed that he was getting beat on pitches he should have been jumping out in front of, and in a pinch-hitting appearance against the Mets in a game where the Yankees would get embarrassed, a key change was made.
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On a ball that Wells would shoot into left field for a single, he displayed a completely new load to the one we had seen against the Atlanta Braves the series prior. It’s a less pronounced leg-kick, barely getting his foot off the ground and getting him in his set position to hit a lot faster than he was with the larger load. The results have been instantaneous, but the spray chart reflects a much more promising profile for the rookie.
After pulling just two flyballs over his first 45 games, Austin Wells has pulled five over his last 16, showing off some serious slug and presenting a much bigger threat to pitchers. Where it’s been particularly helpful is against velocity, as he had a .151 wOBA against fastballs at or above 95 MPH with his larger leg kick, but has a .343 wOBA over this stretch with the reduced leg kick. It’s a seemingly minor change, but this has allowed Austin Wells to more consistently attack pitches out in front for damage contact.
He’s trending upward while nearly the entire lineup has slumped over the past two weeks, and his performance is integral to what the Yankees are trying to do over the next few weeks. With one swing of the bat on Saturday, the Orioles were in a four-run hole that they couldn’t climb out of. That doesn’t happen because of a groundball or a weak pop-up, it happens because you have a hitter with a powerful swing who can give a fan in the outfield a souvenir.
The Yankees Are Going to Put Austin Wells to the Test This Summer
Jose Trevino is hitting the IL with a Grade 2 Quad Strain, which isn’t the kind of injury you just shake off after a 10-day layoff. Austin Wells will have to take over as the team’s primary catcher for the foreseeable future, and one of the biggest reasons the team is confident in his abilities is the defensive leap he’s taken. After being considered a brick behind the plate, with plenty of scoutings projecting him for a role as a corner outfielder or first baseman, he’s catapulted himself into being an elite-level defender.
On the season, Austin Wells has posted a 1.6 fWAR across 194 Plate Appearances, which means if he were to get 400 trips to the plate this season, he’d be on pace for 3.3 fWAR. That’s a very good outcome for a rookie catcher, especially one who got off to such a slow start and had a million questions about his defensive capabilities. I’m not trying to claim that Austin Wells is a proven MLB player, but rather that if things continue to click for him, he could become a great catcher.
Left-handed power with an excellent glove behind the dish is everything the Yankees could ask for from their catcher, and the best comparison I could make here is Brian McCann in his time here. In three seasons with the Yankees, McCann posted a 101 wRC+, hitting 20 or more home runs each season and providing an excellent glove behind the dish as well. Austin Wells is a better baserunner than an aging catcher, but the profile of having a solid power bat and excellent defense does appeal to any ballclub.
If the New York Yankees want to break out of this nasty slump, someone like Austin Wells stepping up could go a long way.