A Closer Look At The Yankees' Backstop Position

Yanks Go Yard

    Yankees' catcher Gary Sanchez is spending his spring training working his way back to the elite player that everyone knows he has the potential to be. In his latest spring training production, although the Yankees did fall late to the Detroit Tigers by a score of 6-5 in Lakeland on Tuesday, Sanchez did get something positive of the day, as he manage to steal the headline in Yankee Land, build on his production since spring training has been underway.

  It is no doubt, 2020 was an awful season for the Yankee big leaguer due to his lack of defensive command in the catcher's stance and not to mention, he was just terrible offensively as well. If anything his 2020 campaign was one of those season that no catcher wants on their resume. When the Yanks brought up Sanchez from the minor, he was an effective all around player as he was known for a very hot bat and an elite gun for a defensive catching glove. Yankee fans didn't see that version of him in 2020.

  However, in Tuesday's spring game against the Tigers, Sanchez gave a glimpse of the player he has the potential to be. From the looks of it, Gary has been fine tuning his game in the batter's box during his spring training. It would seem that he tweaked his at-bat approach a bit and from Tuesday's game, it looks like he found something that could be essential in his offensive approach come the 2021 regular season.  he took the 3-2, 93-mph fastball over the left field fence in the top of the fifth inning. He currently has a .364 average this spring.

  It may be way to early to tell, but there is talk that Sanchez has the possibility earn the American League MVP title. Let's not jump the gun and get too excited because every team will have to face a 162 stretch after this past season's unorthodox 60-game blueprint.

  All things considered though, Yankee fans can only hope for the best as they are seeing signs of healthy players in  Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and Sanchez. Could the notorious Murder's Row play a part in the Yankees pushing for another championship run ? Yankee fans can only hope so.

  We will have to wait and see if Sanchez can be that Scary Gary that John Sterling refers to when making the homerun call: : "Oh That Gary Is Scary!" 

  When it comes to the catching position, the Yankee organization don't only have Sanchez to fill the backstop role. The Yankee organization and the Steinbrenner family now have the luxury of seeing just how good of a ball player Austin Wells really is.

   Who Is Austin Wells ?-The Yankees' First Round Pick Was A Red Sox Fan Growing Up

  The 2020 season was a tough one for the Boston Red Sox for a couple of reasons. First off, the Sox lost key guys, one on the pitching front and another on the offensive front. Boy, as a Yankee fan, at the time I was real glad that one of our toughest American League rival was knocked down a bit.   

  Beyond those hits above, I became even happier when news broke that The Evil Empire took an even more dominant blow toward Boston’s ballclub.

    As Yankee fans, we all know that the Hal Steinbrenner ownership is big on rebuilding from within, so as a result, he cashed in on the 2020 MLB draft class. The Yankees ended up targeting Austin Wells as their  No. 28 pick in the draft. He was drafted as a power-hitting catcher and he hoped to continue to play that position at the professional level.

    At the time, I could not even be happier because it was great to know that The Evil Empire capitalized on preventing the Sox from this player. It was significantly note worthy because Wells grew up a Red Sox fan and according to Chris Bengel of cbssports.com, “Austin Wells spent his entire life as a fan of the Boston Red Sox…Wells became a fan of the Red Sox during their historic World Series run in 2004…” Bengel continued to say in his piece that,”…Yes, that’s that year the Red Sox rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the Yankees in the American League Championship Series…” With that being said, I am glad that we turned a Boston fan into a Yankee contributor. 

  As a matter of fact, the Las Vegas raised kid told NorthJersey.com, “I think everybody’s mind changed (Wednesday) night after hearing my name called. I’m definitely a big Yankee fan now.” Well, that was music to my ears and quite frankly, I will use that information when I am debating with my friends that are Red Sox fans.

  It sucks that 2004 was the year that the Red Sox rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. In turn that lead to Boston sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to win their first championship since 1918. You know, I am real glad that Wells knew about that part of baseball’s history, because Yankee fans now get the bragging rights.

  The Yankee fanbase now have the right to brag that, “A Boston fan chose the route to Yankees Stadium over the route to Fenway Park”. Trust me, I won’t let my Red Sox friends live that one down for quite a while. Man, I can’t wait to have him succeed at the major league level.

  A lefty-righty combo to man the backstop position in the Bronx would be super beneficial to the Yankees’ major league lineup. As we come are approaching the 2021 baseball season, it is great to season that Sanchez isn't the only catcher in the organization that is showing stellar stuff.

  As the saying goes, "All's well that ends well."

    Austin Wells singled for his first hit in the 2021 camp. Last year’s first-round pick continues to impress Aaron Boone. “He can really hit. He’s gonna be a good hitter in this league. It’s fun to be able to watch him go about his business,” the manager said. “...That at-bat validates some of the things we’ve seen.” 

  Boone wasn't the only one to complicate the up and coming catcher. Yankees' catching coach Tanner Swanson went as far as to calling him, "...the gold standard..." on Sunday.

  "As soon as we acquired Austin, Aaron [Boone] did an outstanding job putting together content, a curriculum that could be delivered remotely and Austin really dove into that head first," Swanson said in a Zoom call before New York's 4-0 win over the Phillies. "I think he's seen tremendous strides since we acquired him and is a more than adequate defender. I think the ceiling remains really high and we've all been able to see what he can do offensively already here in the short stint."

  Well the ceiling is certainly very high for both Sanchez and Wells, so hopefully both athletes have a monster season for the Bronx Bombers during the  2021 season.