With a microphone and a room filled with reporters in entrance of him, Aaron Boone acknowledged the plain previous to Opening Day.
“We have questions,” the Yankees’ skipper mentioned of his banged-up roster, “but we think we have answers too.”
A type of questions, even earlier than the wave of accidents, was how the Yankees would deal with the leadoff spot. The reply turned out to be catcher Austin Wells, who crushed six dwelling runs whereas filling the job throughout camp.
On Thursday, Wells confirmed that his success batting first was no spring fling, as he took the third pitch he noticed from Brewers righty Freddy Peralta over Yankee Stadium’s proper subject fence. The solo shot gave the Yankees on the spot offense in a 4-2, season-opening victory.
It additionally made some historical past, as Wells grew to become the primary catcher with an Opening Day leadoff dwelling run in MLB historical past. The sophomore additionally grew to become the primary Yankee with a leadoff homer on Opening Day and the primary Bombers backstop to begin a recreation batting first.
“It was really cool experience for myself not doing it ever,” Wells mentioned. “And it was cool to hear the fans and kind of be the first batter of the season.
“I’m obviously not playing to break records, but it’s pretty cool to hear that.”
Effectively(s) that was fast 
The primary #OpeningDay dwelling run comes off the bat of Austin Wells 
pic.twitter.com/0HZ3tGk6cj
Previous to the sport, Boone mentioned that he believes Wells will “become one of the really good two-way catchers in the league.” Nonetheless, he was requested afterward why Wells made sense within the leadoff spot, as receivers are not often assigned the job.
“I would ask, ‘Why doesn’t it make sense? Other than because he’s a catcher and he’s not fast, although he runs all right. Actually, he runs pretty well for a catcher. He’s good,” replied Boone, who first considered Wells main off over the winter. “He’s going to hit for power, but I think he’s going to control the strike zone and get on base too.
“I think he makes a lot of sense up there.”
That’s been evident for a couple of weeks, however even Wells questioned Boone’s sincerity when the supervisor first approached him with the concept of batting first.
“I didn’t really take it seriously,” Wells mentioned. “I thought maybe he was just messing with me. But then it just kind of continued to happen and I had success. So here we are.”
Requested if he ever envisioned himself as a leadoff hitter, Wells added, “No, never.”
Such a job has been imagined for Anthony Volpe, amongst different options, given his pace. An in depth good friend of Wells, the shortstop batted seventh on Thursday and hit his personal bases-empty blast within the second inning to provide the Yanks a 2-0 lead.
With the Yankees lacking so many key items early within the season — to not point out Juan Soto’s departure — they’ll want younger hitters like Wells and Volpe to supply at a excessive degree this 12 months.
Wells spent most of final season hitting fourth, however he fizzled out down the stretch and within the playoffs after catching an unprecedented workload. Nonetheless, he completed third in Rookie of the 12 months voting.
Volpe, in the meantime, is starting a pivotal third season after two up-and-mostly-down seasons on the plate. The Yankees are hoping {that a} hard-hitting postseason and spring will translate to extra consistency for the 23-year-old.
Opening Day served as an encouraging begin.
“I’m excited about our young guys and what they’re going to do,” Aaron Choose mentioned, singling out Wells, Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jasson Domínguez. “All those guys are gonna be a big part of our future and our success this year.”
Talking of encouraging begins, Carlos Rodón spun one from the mound.
The lefty, taking the place of Tommy John recipient Gerrit Cole, allowed only one earned run, a third-inning solo homer from Vinny Capra, over 5.1 innings of labor. Rodón, deploying a brand new sinker and six-pitch arsenal, additionally totaled 4 hits, two walks, seven strikeouts and 89 pitches.
A type of walks got here on a 10-pitch plate look from Rhys Hoskins, which ended Rodón’s day. The sidewinding Tim Hill then needed to work out and in of a bases-loaded jam.
“He was really sharp command-wise,” Boone mentioned of Rodón. “Good presence with everything. I thought his stuff was good, but I thought he was really in command of his motions out there and just executed a lot.”
The Yankees scored once more within the seventh inning when a Choose grounder bounced off the third base bag and into left subject. The literal base hit, a double, plated Ben Rice earlier than Oswaldo Cabrera scored on newcomer Cody Bellinger’s sac fly.
These additional runs proved vital, as Brewers-turned-Yankees nearer Devin Williams discovered bother in his pinstriped debut. Thankfully for the air-bending righty, he restricted his outdated crew to a Brice Turang sac fly regardless of filling the bases with no one out within the ninth.
“That was awesome,” Williams mentioned of his rocky intro to Bronx baseball. “It wasn’t the easiest one, but it’s kind of fitting that we were playing them. They really made me work for it today, but I’m glad I was able to get the job done.”
With the beginning of a brand new season underway, the Yankees and Brewers will get pleasure from an off day on Friday.
They’ll return to motion on Saturday, when Max Fried is scheduled to make his Yankees debut. Fried, the de facto ace with Cole sidelined, inked an eight-year, $218 million cope with the Yankees over the winter.
“I’m really excited to get out there for the first time,” the previous Courageous mentioned, although he desires to remain grounded in entrance of what’s certain to be a packed home. “The first one isn’t any more significant than any other one.”
There might be some significance for his Brewers counterpart, as Nestor Cortes will begin for Milwaukee. It will likely be Cortes’ first look at Yankee Stadium for the reason that pinstripers traded him and Caleb Durbin to the Brewers for Williams in December.
“I’m super excited,” mentioned Cortes, who loved three stints with the Yankees. “I want to see where I line up with those guys and hopefully go out there and throw five shutout [innings].”
Initially Printed: March 27, 2025 at 6:29 PM EDT
