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NEW YORK — The eighth-inning fastball tipped Rhys Hoskins’ bat and nailed catcher Austin Wells in the meaty part of his right shoulder. Wells winced, balled his fist and double over. As he walked around home plate, waiting for the pain to subside, he thought about his rotten luck.
“I got hit there the same way in my last game of spring training three days ago,” he said. “It stung.”
Such is life for a major-league catcher. Though, this season, Wells expects to be unlike any backstop the New York Yankees have seen in pinstripes before.
Exhibit No. 1 came when Wells blasted a leadoff home run in a 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
With the homer, Wells accomplished two things. He became the first catcher to hit leadoff for the Yankees, who were established in 1913. He also became the first catcher since 1900 to hit a leadoff homer on Opening Day.
“It was awesome,” Wells said.
“Incredible,” right fielder Aaron Judge said of Wells’ performance, which also included helping starting pitcher Carlos Rodón through one run over 5 1/3 innings and closer Devin Williams through a dicey, 36-pitch ninth inning for the save.
“He was excellent today,” manager Aaron Boone said.
Well(s) that was quick 💥
The first #OpeningDay home run comes off the bat of Austin Wells 💪 pic.twitter.com/0HZ3tGk6cj
— MLB (@MLB) March 27, 2025
Before spring training, the Yankees didn’t know who would be their primary leadoff hitter. Thursday, when a reporter brought up that point to Boone before the game, he smiled and had an immediate answer: “Austin Wells.”
It would seem a curious pick. But consider the state of the Yankees, and think about Wells’ abilities.
Boone doesn’t have the prototypical No. 1 hitter on his roster. There’s nobody who blends speed, on-base ability and patience at the plate. There’s no Rickey Henderson-type or, as Boone put it, “We don’t have that smack-you-in-the-face leadoff hitter that’s obvious.”
The Yankees do, however, have Wells, a 25-year-old lefty hitter with power, discipline and decent wheels, especially for a catcher.
“Why doesn’t it make sense?” Boone said. “Other than because he’s a catcher and he’s not fast?”
Two Yankees catchers are in the Hall of Fame: Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey. Another three had strong cases for the Hall: Elston Howard, Thurman Munson and Jorge Posada.
None of them were picked for the leadoff spot — likely a sign of how much the thinking around the game has changed. These days, teams prioritize the players who get on base the most at the top of their lineup over the slap-hitting speedsters.
When Boone brought the idea to Wells at the start of spring training, Wells almost laughed at him.
“I didn’t really take it seriously,” the catcher said. “I thought maybe he was messing with me.”
Then Wells hit leadoff in 15 of the 16 games he started in camp, mashing four home runs. He even homered in his first spring training at-bat in the leadoff spot.
“It just continued to happen, and I had success, and here we are,” he said.
Thursday, that success continued. In a 2-0 count to start the game, Freddy Peralta threw a 93.4 mph fastball chest-high and over the plate. Wells clobbered it, sending it 103.7 mph on a low liner over just over the right-field wall. He tossed his bat toward the dugout, clapped his hands as he approached third base and mashed forearms with Judge, the No. 2 hitter.
“For him to go out there and give us an early lead with that swing,” Judge said, “we’ve been seeing it all spring. The guy came into camp ready to go. He had an impressive spring training and he just carried it into today on both sides of the ball. He took some tough hits there, but he blocked some great balls and really set the tone.”
“It feels like a really cool experience for myself not doing it ever (before),” Wells said.
Wells seems likely to hit leadoff against most righties the Yankees face. Against lefties, the righty hitting Paul Goldschmidt or Anthony Volpe could see work atop the lineup, though Wells could get consideration, too.
It was another step in an impressive journey for Wells, who was drafted in the first round in 2020 out of the University of Arizona. Early in his minor-league career, many evaluators — and even people within the Yankees — questioned whether Wells would stick behind the plate due to his below-average arm strength and middling blocking skills.
Wells evolved to become one of the better defensive catchers in the majors, taking the full-time job away from mentor Jose Trevino last year. The Yankees believed in Wells so much this offseason that they traded Trevino to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for a relief pitcher.
Now, Wells has evolved from hitting cleanup for the Yankees for stretches last season into an unlikely leadoff hitter. He built like a football player at 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds. And most unusual of all, he’s a catcher. Thursday, he became just the 11th catcher to hit a leadoff homer since 1900 and the fifth to hit leadoff on Opening Day since 1901.
Who knows how long Wells will remain leading off for the Yankees? Maybe it’ll be a one-year thing. Or maybe they’ll trade for a new leadoff hitter before the July 31 deadline and push Wells back into the middle of the lineup, where players with his skills have traditionally hit.
Wells didn’t see this coming.
“No,” he said. “Never.”
But the Yankees are ready for him to be a first-of-his-kind catcher in their illustrious catching history.
(Photo: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)
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