TAMPA — Austin Wells has stepped into the batter’s box on multiple occasions for live batting practice during the first week of camp.
He just hasn’t swung the bat yet.
The Yankees catcher, who did take swings in the indoor cage Sunday, said the decision is not related to an injury and that he is “just not ready yet.”
“I was hitting higher-speed stuff towards the end of this week [indoors], so just preparing for the games probably the week after they start,” Wells said Sunday. “Just played late, so taking it a little slower.”
Wells is coming off a heavy catching workload last season, after taking over close to full-time duties in July.
He made big strides defensively but also emerged as a key bat during the summer — which led to him becoming the cleanup hitter — before he appeared to run out of gas in September and into the playoffs.
The AL Rookie of the Year finalist was hitting .259 with a .795 OPS and 12 home runs in 94 games entering September before finishing the regular season batting .111 with a .411 OPS and one home run over his final 21 games.
He then hit .120 with a .460 OPS in the postseason.
“I definitely wasn’t happy with how it ended for me,” Wells said. “But I don’t know any better to say that it was a fatigue thing or not. I’m gonna go with no. I’m just gonna go with it was part of the year. But definitely feeling good 1739768321 and ready to roll.”
Wells was also hit by a pitch on the right wrist/hand on Sept. 2, though he wasn’t sure if that had anything to do with his decline.
Jake Cousins is unlikely to start the season on time due to a forearm strain, but the reliever — who will be three weeks into a planned three-to-four week shutdown on Monday — believes he is making good progress in his recovery.
“We don’t want this to be something that I deal with all season, so we want to make sure it’s gone,” Cousins said. “If we end up missing a couple weeks and I’m healthy for the rest of the season — the whole goal is to be healthy.”
Cousins was feeling increased soreness in days after bullpen sessions during the offseason, which led to him getting imaging.
But he said the UCL “looked great” in the MRI.
Roger Clemens will be among the guest instructors at Yankees camp this spring for the first time, as SNY first reported, with the seven-time Cy Young winner expected on Friday.
Bench coach Brad Ausmus pulled a hamstring “pretty bad” in a pickup basketball game on Saturday, according to manager Aaron Boone.
“Obviously, I advised him not to do that, understandably,” quipped Boone, who infamously tore his ACL while playing basketball ahead of the 2004 season. “But he wanted to take his 55-year-old act out there anyway.”
