Around the Empire: Yankees news - 9/22/24

New York Post | Greg Joyce : When he was drafted and coming up through the Yankees ' system, the scouting reports generally tended to say that Austin Wells had excellent potential as a hitter, but his defensive skills behind the plate might be iffy. With his first full major league season almost in the books, it has to be said that that his defense has been plenty good as well. Wells' defensive development has drawn good reviews from the Yankees, including Gerrit Cole, who has been a bit picky in the past about who catches him.

Newsday | Erik Boland : While he famously rooted for the other Bay Area team growing up, Northern California native Aaron Judge has some mixed emotions about likely playing in Oakland for the final time this weekend. The Yankee captain said he had been to games in the Oakland Coliseum as a fan plenty of times, including once taking his then-girlfriend and now-wife there on a date. The Coliseum was also the site of Judge's first on-field appearance in Yankees gear, taking batting practice just after he was drafted in 2013. The future captain got to meet and chat with some future teammates, like CC Sabathia and Brett Gardner.

There was also this perfect quote from quintessential 2013 Yankee Vernon Wells, who saw Judge hit in BP with hitting coach Kevin Long.

"I'll tell you what Vernon Wells said, and this pretty much summed it up," Long said. "Vernon was at the end of his career and he was with us [in 2013] and he saw Aaron take batting practice and he looked at me straight-faced and said, 'It's probably time for me to retire.' That's how impressive Aaron Judge was. He was crushing balls."

San Francisco Chronice | John Shea : Speaking of the Yankees' last trip to Oakland, this will mark the end of a chapter of the Yankees' history against the Athletics. The two teams played some memorable games against each other in Oakland, including Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS, which featured Derek Jeter's famous flip play as the Yankees rallied from 2-0 down in that series. Check out John Griffin's here yesterday for more memories.