Slumping Austin Wells drawing praise from Yankees for stellar defense

Austin Wells took extra batting practice on the field at Kauffman Stadium prior to the Yankees’ Game 4 clincher over the Royals, but unlike how the added work paid off for Giancarlo Stanton the day before, Wells saw his hitless streak extend to 11 at-bats in the postseason Thursday night in Kansas City.

His work behind the plate, though, has been solid and drawn praise from his teammates and coaches.

“He’s very engaged and aware,” Clay Holmes said from the Stadium on Saturday, where the Yankees were working out in advance of Monday’s Game 1 of the ALCS against Cleveland. “He knows what he’s looking for, and we have a lot of trust in him. I don’t think anyone ever doubted that, but seeing how he’s navigated these games so far, he’s been big, especially in his first time in the playoffs. Those environments are not an easy thing. There’s a lot of stuff to juggle.”

Defensively, Wells has been solid, even in the midst of whiffing five times during the 11 at-bat hitless streak.

“The level of at-bats has increased and the pitch-to-pitch focus is higher on both sides,” Wells said of the ALDS versus the Royals. “So when you’re calling pitches, these guys put up at-bats and aren’t giving anything away. So from pitch one, you don’t want to make a mistake.”

To Wells’ point, of the four games against the Royals, two were decided by one run, the other two by just two runs, leaving little margin for error.

And outside of Gerrit Cole’s shaky start in the opener, which he rebounded from in the Game 4 clincher, and Carlos Rodon’s fourth-inning meltdown in Game 2, the Yankees got mostly excellent production from their pitchers in the series.

Wells was a major part of that, both in receiving pitches and calling them.

“The reason I love to catch is because of the intellectual part of it and the competition,” Wells said. “I get to be part of every pitch and help dictate the way the game goes for us. So this higher level of baseball, I love it even more. It’s exactly what I want to do.”

And he’s been doing a lot of it.

He’s started all but two games since Sept. 21, finishing out the regular season by catching five of the last seven regular season games and all four against Kansas City.

It’s part of an increased workload since taking over the regular starting spot instead of mostly platooning with Jose Trevino.

“I don’t really know if it’s weighing on me,” Wells said. “I just go out and play how I feel. It’s been a lot of fun to get to experience this in my first year here.”

Perhaps returning to The Bronx for Monday’s Game 1 will help, since Wells acknowledged getting work in the cage can be difficult with the timing of batting practice on the road, when the road team hits second and conflicts with his defensive preparation.

Overall, though, not much has caught Wells by surprise.

“I try to be as prepared as possible for something I’ve never done before, like playing now in the playoffs,” he said. “I treat it as just another game we’re trying to win. That’s helped me a lot to not put too much on different situations.”