Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic <\/p>\n
TAMPA \u2014 Manager Aaron Boone has said he can envision \u201ca number\u201d of in-house hitters becoming the Yankees leadoff hitter this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Friday, Austin Wells received his first crack at hitting first and made it count.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wells, who is a realistic if untraditional option to emerge as the No. 1 hitter, needed just two pitches to assert that he feels comfortable in the spot. <\/p>\n
In his first at-bat atop the order, the young catcher golfed a 1-0 fastball from righty Jake Bloss over the right field wall for his first home run of the spring to begin Friday\u2019s 6-3 win over the Blue Jays at Steinbrenner Field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never really led off ever in my life,\u201d Wells said after the 1-for-2 night. \u201cIt was fun to do that today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Boone has plenty of leadoff options (partially because he does not have any surefire fit after Gleyber Torres walked in free agency) in a lineup that is still taking shape.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aaron Judge is just about locked in as the No. 2 hitter, and Cody Bellinger is the front-runner to hit third, where he batted Friday and added his own first-inning home run.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last season Wells was used most often as the cleanup hitter, and he could jump from Judge\u2019s protection (after Judge typically batted third in 2024) to Judge\u2019s table-setter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The slow-footed Wells is not the throwback vision of a leadoff guy and will not steal many bases, but he fights through at-bats, has a good knowledge of the strike zone and most importantly can get on base.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never know here,\u201d Boone said of a leadoff Wells. \u201cIt\u2019s something I would consider. I\u2019ve liked Jazz [Chisholm Jr.] there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially against right-handed pitching, I could absolutely see that being a thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Through 94 games last season, Wells posted a strong .348 on-base percentage that saw him climb out of the bottom of the lineup and into the middle of the lineup. <\/p>\n
The then-rookie tired down the stretch in his first full season as a major league catcher and as he played nearly every day, his OBP just .217 in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If a better rested and performing Wells arrives this season, he could grab the everyday leadoff job or serve in the role against opposing righties. <\/p>\n
Chisholm, switch-hitting Jasson Dom\u00ednguez and perhaps Bellinger also could fill that role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If Boone opts for a platoon atop the lineup, there are worlds in which righties Anthony Volpe or DJ LeMahieu (if he turns back the clock) would get looks hitting first against lefties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me it doesn\u2019t matter where I\u2019m at,\u201d Wells said, \u201cjust as long as I\u2019m in the lineup.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic TAMPA \u2014 Manager Aaron Boone has said he can envision \u201ca number\u201d of in-house hitters becoming the Yankees leadoff hitter this year.\u00a0 On Friday, Austin Wells received his first crack at hitting first and made it count.\u00a0 Wells, who is a realistic if untraditional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":225790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-225789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225791,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225789\/revisions\/225791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}