The New York Yankees are awaiting the return of a premier defender.
On Tuesday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided injury updates on a number of players, which included catcher Jose Trevino. According to Boone, the 31-year-old backstop could begin a rehab assignment early next week.
“Trevi’s as early as Sunday in a rehab game,” Boone said. “We’ll just see how the week unfolds.”
Although Trevino is getting closer to returning and has a proven track record, the Bronx Bombers may use Austin Wells more frequently for the rest of the year; both backstops were sharing the starting role until Trevino went down with a left quad strain on July 12.
Since Trevino’s injury, Wells has been the Yankees’ starting catcher and has played brilliantly on both sides of the ball. In a 17-game span from July 13 to August 7, the 24-year-old rookie is hitting .328/.434/.541 with six extra-base hits, 12 RBI, and a 175 wRC+. Wells has performed so well offensively that he’s become the team’s cleanup hitter; since moving into the fourth spot in the lineup, he’s hit .359/.429/.547 in 63 plate appearances.
Additionally, Wells is rapidly developing into an excellent defensive catcher; he has 10 defensive runs saved and is worth six fielding runs above average, while his pitch framing abilities rank in the 93rd percentile on Baseball Savant.
Nonetheless, Trevino is still a valuable part of the team and is having a comparable season to 2022, which saw him earn an All-Star selection and win the Platinum Glove for the American League. Although he’s struggled with throwing out baserunners this year (largely due to a slow pop time), he’s still contributed seven defensive runs saved and is worth eight fielding runs above average thanks to his blocking and framing prowess. Additionally, Trevino is on pace to have the best offensive season of his career; prior to his injury, he was hitting .244/.303/.411 with 12 extra-base hits (including eight home runs), 27 RBI, and a 102 wRC+ that is just above league average, which is extremely valuable coming from such an important position in the field.
It’s safe to say that Wells will be the primary catcher when Trevino returns, due to his significant development into the Yankees’ catcher of the future. But Trevino’s skillset is still very important to the Yankees, so whenever Wells needs a day off, the Bronx Bombers can turn to the other half of the best catching tandem in baseball.
