Aformer New York Yankees reliever has publicly called out what he believes may be a case of pitch tipping involving Yankees’ current catcher, Austin Wells. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) last month under his handle ExYank54, former relief pitcher Joe Ausanio highlighted what he thinks is an subconscious, inadvertent movement that Wells is making that, to the eagle and highly-trained eye, could relay upcoming pitch types to batters The claim is of course unproven, and even with Ausanio’s guidance on where to look, it remains extremely hard to see to those without big league experience. But Ausanio has some credibility in his voice. After all, in addition his playing career with them, Ausanio is still a part of the Yankees organization, even in retirement. Not Just Anybody Saying This Ausanio arrived with the Yankees organization as a Minor League Rule 5 draft pick in the winter of 1993, pitched in 41 major league games for the Yankees during the 1994 and 1995 seasons, the only big league team he would ever pitch for. The once-prized Pittsburgh Pirates draft pick had had his path to the majors derailed by injury, but would finally make his debut aged 28. Over his two MLB seasons, Ausanio recorded a 4-1 record, struck out 51 batters in 53. 1 innings and posted a 5. 57 ERA and 1. 63 WHIP, serving as a replacement-level arm during some more tumultuous seasons for the Yankees’ bullpen. Ausanio’s time with the Yankees dovetailed with their overdue return to the postseason after more than a decade away. After two more seasons split between the New York Mets and Colorado Rockies’ organizations to round out his playing days, Ausanio returned to the Yankees in front-office roles for a minor league affiliate. He has worked for the High-A affiliate Hudson Valley Renegades in a variety of roles over the past two decades, ranging from director of sales to director of food services all the way up to director of basketball operations, while also working as the head coach of the men’s softball team at Marist College. Ausanio’s opinion on any pitch-tipping is therefore an informed one and also one coming from a Yankees Man, who would much rather it not be true. Yankees Do Unto Others Notwithstanding the caveat that he “could be wrong”, Ausanio claims that a subtle movement of Wells’s head could conceivably relay information to opponents about what kind of pitch is coming next. Any suggestion of pitch tipping is taken very seriously in professional baseball, where pitcher tells can drastically influence game outcomes. Only recently, the Yankees have been named in pitch-tipping allegations, this time going the other way. In successive posts to the platform, Yankees beat writers Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News and Andy Martino of SNY posted their own thoughts on how the Yankees’ hitting line-up were conveying information to each other about what the Toronto Blue Jays’s staff were throwing, building off of comments by Blue Jays manager John Schneider back in September. In Ausanio’s view, through Wells’s subconscious movements, the Blue Jays were able to get something back.
https://heavy.com/sports/mlb/new-york-yankees/former-yankees-pitcher-accuses-austin-wells-of-tipping-pitches/