The Yankees have signed 28th overall pick Austin Wells, he announced on Twitter. The catcher agreed to a $2.5MM bonus, Jack Curry of the YES Network reports. That just about matches the $2,493,900 recommended slot value of his selection.
The Yankees have long been after Wells, whom they drafted in the 35th round in 2018. But Wells elected to attend the University of Arizona, where he upped his stock by slashing .357/.476/.560 with seven home runs in 351 plate appearances. As a result, the 20-year-old went into this month’s draft ranking in the vicinity of where the Yankees took him, as Baseball America rated Wells 21st among available prospects, MLB.com placed him 27th, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel put him at 36, FanGraphs had him 40th, and he checked in at 44 on the list of Keith Law of The Athletic.
As his numbers with the Wildcats show, Wells thrived as a hitter in college, and MLB.com writes he “has power to all fields, with good timing and a simple setup at the plate.” There are questions over whether Wells will make it as a catcher in the pros, but his bat and athleticism could make him a viable first baseman or corner outfielder if he doesn’t stick at his current spot. MLB.com likens Wells to the Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber, an ex-catcher who has become a slugging outfielder in the majors.
Good move
Wells done.
Good move to sign your first round draft pick?
I guess….I mean what were your options? Save money? When in the history of planet earth have the Yankees ever done that…..
Here was the problem: The Yankees only had three picks, and the second lowest amount of money to spend, and took two players Wells ( Boras ) and Beck Way ( LSU commit) that looked like difficult signs, which is why getting Wells at slot, is huge, because they do not leave a lot of wiggle room to get those two signed.
One down 2 to go. Good to see the Yankees add a catching prospect to their system and a left handed bat.
Agreed they need the lefty bat. Hopefully he can actually stay behind the plate. I would hate to see him just hit the crap out of the ball and have as many passes balls as the fella already back there. Love Sanchez bat but we don’t need Gary Sanchez 2.0.
Sanchez is still probably a top 5 catcher in baseball so Gary Sanchez 2.0 would be a great outcome for the 28th overall pick
Let’s hope the kid moves quickly through the system and remains a catcher. The Yankees really need to get that disaster (Gary Sanchez) out from behind the plate ASAP. I’ve never seen so many passed balls on catchable pitches in my life! Sanchez’s future is either at DH or 1B; his defense, framing and game calling are all Achilles heels for a championship-level team. In this upcoming short season, Boone needs to figure out how to minimize his time behind the plate as he can cost them games being back there. You just can’t keep his bat out of the lineup; his power is impressive. He also needs to start taking his conditioning more seriously. He could literally eat his way out of the lineup (and a big FA payday) if he’s not careful.
smh
Yikes
big yikes
Sanchez cut his passed balls down dramatically last season, at the expense of framing. The new catching coach, Tanner Swanson was working with him this spring on making adjustments to improve the framing without sacrificing pitch blocking. Unfortunately, COVID interrupted that, but Swanson has gotten results in the past with Mitch Garver, so I’m hopeful. Sanchez is very good with executing a game plan with pitchers and has a cannon for an arm (h/t Frank Costanza, RIP). He’s still fairly young, and if he can stay healthy, he can still become a plus defender.
Yes he did as well as for wild pitches (45 to 30), but unfortunately he had a career worst 15 errors, making it his 2nd season with double errors as he committed 13 in 2017, but he’s not completely worthless, because there are not too many catchers, if any catchers that are still playing with the kind of power he has, although there are some other ones with very good power.
You nailed it. It makes sense that it would be difficult to focus on both framing and WP/PB elimination at the same time. Sanchez seems to be able to do one or the other tolerably, but not both. Sanchez’s relative defensive value would be greatly aided by robot umps, eliminating the possibility of framing altogether.
But Sanchez has a huge bat. When he actually plays more than 100 games (no more than 122 ever) he hits over 30 hr. You will not replace that production elsewhere behind the plate. But I agree he costs them big back there. He is god awful.
Several guys need to put the burgers down in the league. I totally agree. I’m real nervous about vlad jr, he’s still so young. That guy will eat himself off third base in no time if he isn’t careful. Not that he won’t still hit Well or play first. But why eat everything that moves ya know? Seems super self serving that these guys can’t go on a diet and train. You have access to all the technology and money in the world and your still eating hot dogs and beans every night. But hey to each their own I guess smh
Wells is not a catcher at the Major League level. Most likely destined for 1B or OF.
The bigger problem with Sanchez is is plate discipline. He swings for the moon no matter the situation. Guy in front of him hits a home run and he wants to hit one further and pops out or whiffs. Always lazy running it out and will never come up big in a big situation. Not to mention his “conditioning” and constant injury issues.
That is very true, but then again, so many players are swinging for the fences, even if they’re not big power threats.
Good draft pick, think he moves to 1B down the line. Good bat for Yankee stadium. Hope he moves up the ladder
Of the Yankees top 30 prospects… 7 are from the draft. The rest have been international free agents
Toyota Is a Japanese company yet has plants in Canada as well as Japan
They’ve been long after him. Drafted him twice, both in 2018 and 2020. Seems like forever. Scouts were probably at the hospital when he was born and at his first little league game. And everywhere else the lamb was sure to go, yeah.
I’m not a Yankees fan but I feel like if the never had Stanton Gary would be in RF with judge DHing
You are obviously not a Yankees fan. Judge is one of the best defensive right fielders in the game.
Judge and Betts are the top two RF in the game. Judge’s problem never been his defense. His problem is staying healthy and cutting down on his strikeouts