Yankees' Jose Trevino, Austin Wells should fill plate after lean year for catchers
Yankees catcher Jose Trevino watches a spring training workout Feb. 21 in Tampa, Fla. Credit: AP/Charlie Neibergall
TAMPA, Fla. — How are the Yankees going to be better than last year’s 82-80 “disaster” of a season, to use Brian Cashman’s description from August 2023?
Juan Soto, sure. Aaron Judge not banging his toe against a wall and missing two months, obviously. Better health and production from Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu and Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes, to name a few. Less uppercutting from Anthony Volpe, that would be nice.
Not having an offensive black hole at catcher would help, too.
That’s why it was so vital to the 2024 Yankees to have Jose Trevino back in the lineup on Sunday for his first spring training game. A return to his 2022 All-Star form is imperative.
Trevino, who had been slowed by a sore calf, started for the Yankees against Atlanta at Steinbrenner Field and had quite a debut. He went 2-for-2 with a solo home run and a sacrifice fly and threw out a runner trying to steal second in the first inning. He caught five innings.
Austin Wells, 24, who is still a rookie, has had the kind of spring training that has solidified his share of the regular-season catching job and has given glimpses that he might end up being a star.
Yankees catchers last season were, in a word, a “disaster” at the plate — one of many positions from which the club got subpar production in a season that set franchise records for offensive futility.
Overall, the four Yankees catchers who played in 2023 finished 24th out of 30 teams in batting average (.212), 29th in on-base percentage (.263) and 21st in slugging percentage (.369).
The group finished 10th in WAR (FanGraphs version) because of strong defensive metrics. But the combined offense of the group was, well, offensive.
Trevino was hitting .210 when his season ended in July because of a torn wrist ligament.
Kyle Higashioka, who appeared in the most games (92) of any Yankees catcher, hit .236 — which was a full-season career high for him.
Wells, who impressed defensively during his September audition, hit .229. Ben Rortvedt, who carved out a niche as Gerrit Cole’s personal catcher, hit .118 but still got into 32 games.
When added to the poor production the Yankees got from third base, designated hitter and the outfield without Judge, it’s no wonder they finished ahead of only the not-trying Oakland A’s in batting average (.227) and were 25th in runs (673).
A catcher’s first job is to be a defensive stalwart. But there has to be some offense from the position.
In his All-Star season, Trevino hit .248 with 11 home runs and a .671 OPS in 115 games. He had a knack for delivering clutch hits and became a fan favorite. He also won his first Gold Glove.
“The guy’s an All-Star,” Cortes said. “He showed it in ’22. He was hurt, obviously, last year, but he's a big part of us. He’s a guy that on the field is really good, but off the field he brings a lot of qualities into this clubhouse. So we're excited to see him play. Having Trevi back is a big piece for us.”
Wells has always been thought of as a bat-first prospect, so much so that the expectation was that he might have to move to another position.
But even though the lefthanded hitter's bat took a while to get going last September — he hit .128 in his first 11 games, then had a .355/.375/.839 slash line, four home runs and nine RBIs in eight games from Sept. 20 on — Wells made his biggest impression with his work behind the plate. That has continued in spring training.
“In September, he was better than I anticipated,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So I was like, ‘Oh, he could do this.’ Now I’m to the point where I’m confident he’s good at it.”
The Yankees haven’t said that Wells definitely will make the team over Rortvedt, who is out of options, but it would be a shock if he doesn’t.
“If he’s on the team, he’s going to play a lot,” Boone said. “I don’t know if that’s two out of five, three out of five, however you want to make it. We’ll see. Whoever shares the position initially and over time with Trevi, they’re going to split it anyway.”
Boone said the Yankees “are sitting here with a lot of high-end catching.”
Now all they need is for those high-end catchers to perform like it at the plate, too. That’s one way the 2024 Yankees will be better than the 2023 version.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
