Can Yankees rookie Austin Wells earn right to catch Gerrit Cole?
Yankees’ catcher Austin Wells working on his base running skills during spring training at their facility in Tampa, FL on Thursday Feb. 15, 2024. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
TAMPA, Fla. — Gerrit Cole is selective, to say the least, when it comes to his catchers.
In his time with the Yankees, which began in 2020, Cole has had Kyle Higashioka, Jose Trevino and Ben Rortvedt — who took over when Trevino suffered a season-ending wrist injury last July — as his primary backstops.
But with Trevino a couple of weeks behind because of a calf strain and rookie Austin Wells, who impressed after his Sept. 1 call-up in 2023, making a run at the starting catcher’s job, it was not an insignificant thing that Wells caught Cole’s bullpen session early Sunday afternoon.
“It was his first time getting in there and catching a side,” Aaron Boone said of Wells, who did not catch Cole during his month in the big leagues last September. “I’ll get him in there in a game with him, too . . . especially with Trevi being down the first week or two of games, I’ll try to rotate that a little bit early in camp and get everyone to get a feel there [with Cole]. But kind of the start of that was today with Austin getting with him a little bit.”
Cole, obsessive about all things pitching — he more often than not says “craft” in discussing it — fully expects his catchers to be the same way.
“He’s so tuned in all five days,” Boone said. “He’s uber-focused, obviously, the day he starts, and his game plan and his focus on what he wants to do, but then right after, he’s breaking down what went right, what went wrong in an outing. But then it’s right into moving on.”
And whoever is catching Cole needs to keep up.
“I think he is demanding, in a good way,” Boone said. “Expects a lot from his catchers, and we wouldn’t want it any other way. But just his attention to detail and his focus and his experience now does require a catcher to be hooked up and in tune with him all week long.”
Wells arrived last September with an offense-first reputation but impressed the Yankees, including members of the pitching staff, with his abilities behind the plate, something he spent the offseason working on further.
“He’s done such a good job making big strides defensively,” Boone said.
Yankees make minor deal
The Yankees traded lefthander Matt Krook to the Orioles in exchange for cash considerations on Sunday. Krook, 29, who spent most of last season in the minors, allowed 11 runs, eight hits and six walks in four innings in four games with the Yankees.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
More Yankees headlines
