Yankees’ Austin Wells throws out two runners days after hand bruise

CHICAGO — Austin Wells’ hand took a beating earlier this week, but his arm is no worse for wear. The Yankees catcher threw out a pair of runners trying to steal second base on Saturday to help out Clarke Schmidt in a 2-0 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Wells, who sat out Tuesday and Wednesday’s games to nurse a bruised right hand after getting hit by a 95 mph fastball on Monday, nailed Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong in consecutive innings on strong throws to second.

“I feel like the last few years, my throwing has gotten better throughout the year as the season’s progressed,” Wells said. “So I started a little earlier [this year] so from the beginning I could feel a little better.” One of the biggest knocks on Wells as he came up through the minor leagues was about a weak throwing arm.



But he has put in the work to help change that, and in his first full season in the big leagues, he has thrown out 17 of 69 attempted base stealers (24.6 percent), which is better than league average (21 percent). “I feel like he’s made real big improvements on his throwing over the offseason,” manager Aaron Boone said.

“He’s carried that into this year as well. Those were both really good throws. But Clarke played a role in that too, mixing up his looks, being fairly quick to home plate, pitches to work with, pitched out on the one where we got Pete Crow-Armstrong.

But I feel like Austin’s just doing a really good job back there.” Wells also went 1-for-3 with a walk and drove in the Yankees’ first run of the day. But Schmidt was appreciative of his arm.

“Big time,” Schmidt said. “It helps on the [pitch count]. But we knew they were a very active team and we felt like there were some chances to get guys out if we mixed some looks and changed up some timing.

So credit to our staff, [Luis] Rojas and those guys are on top of that stuff. “Also big shout-out to Wells. He was great behind the dish and to see him throw out some runners right there, it really takes the relief off the pitcher.

” The Yankees bullpen got better on Saturday with the return of Ian Hamilton, who was activated off the 60-day injured list after being out since mid-June because of a strained lat. Hamilton had not been as sharp before landing on the IL this year as he was last year, but at his best has the potential to give Boone another quality high-leverage arm at the back end of the bullpen. To make room on the 40-man roster for Hamilton and Schmidt to be activated off the 60-day IL, the Yankees designated for assignment relievers Nick Burdi and Phil Bickford.

Burdi had been a nice surprise in spring training and the first month of the season, but after a second IL stint for right hip inflammation, he was optioned to Triple-A and remained there, unable to crack the Yankees bullpen. Pitching prospect Clayton Beeter was activated off the injured list at Triple-A on Saturday and transferred to Double-A Somerset. Back in July, it looked like the right-hander might need shoulder surgery after being placed on the IL in May, but he has apparently avoided that, at least for now.

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