NEW YORK — This Opening Day belonged to the kids.
For the first time in 70 years, two Yankees aged 25 or younger went deep in the first game of the season. The last time that happened, Mickey Mantle was involved, and the Yankees reached the World Series.
Austin Wells, a 25-year-old catcher, and Anthony Volpe, a 24-year-old shortstop, delivered homers Thursday on the way to a relatively breezy, 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Southpaw Carlos Rodón cruised through 5 1/3 innings in place of injured ace Gerrit Cole. Captain Aaron Judge laced a timely double that doinked off third base in the seventh. Things got hairy for new closer Devin Williams against his former club in the ninth, but the All-Star held on for his first save in pinstripes.
And the home fans — all 46,208 of them — went home happy on an appropriately chilly spring afternoon in the Big Apple.
Included were all the usual pomp and circumstance of Opening Day. The colorful bunting draped from the upper deck, the pregame roster introductions for both teams, the oversized flag during the national anthem. The buzz, the hope of a new season, the promise of spring.
Those pregame introductions also provided the first real glimpse of Gerrit Cole since the 2023 Cy Young winner underwent season-ending elbow surgery on March 11. The star hurler, his repaired arm protected by a black mechanical brace, conspicuously traveled down the first bump line with his left hand. There was also an emotional moment of silence for Miller Gardner, the son of former Yankee Brett Gardner who died last week at the age of 14.
Before all the ceremony, as fans were shuffling into the stadium, a video played on the Yankee Stadium Jumbotron championing the club’s offseason additions. The featured quartet — Williams, outfielder Cody Bellinger, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and starter Max Fried — have among them two MVPs, 13 All-Star games and eight Gold Gloves. Losing all-world supernova Juan Soto to the Mets wasn’t offseason Plan A, but the Yankees received deserved plaudits around the industry for their admirable pivot over the winter.
Still, Game No. 1 of 2025 was a reminder that despite the flashy new pieces and their many accomplishments, this Yankees campaign might very well rest on the shoulders of the less proven. Greener players such as Wells, Volpe and 22-year-old left fielder Jasson Domínguez could dictate the tenor of the season.
“Two of our younger players that we’re counting on taking steps offensively, Austin and Volpe, doing what they’re capable of doing,” manager Aaron Boone said after the game. “That was big.”
Wells, who arrived in a sharp, navy three-piece suit for his first Opening Day start, became the first catcher in the franchise’s 123-year history to hit leadoff. His place atop the batting order became a major topic of conversation as spring training came to a close. While lineup construction, generally speaking, doesn’t have enormous impact over a 162-game season, it does make for stellar talk radio fodder. And seeing a backstop leading off a game in pinstripes at Yankee Stadium was notable.
The Yankees like Wells in the leadoff spot because he’s superb at controlling the strike zone. He gets ahead in counts, he doesn’t chase, he walks a lot. He sees a lot of pitches, yet he’s aggressive in the zone when he needs to be. Those are all qualities that have become more valued in the leadoff spot in recent years.
And in his very first at-bat of the season, Wells showcased why Boone has faith in his leadoff abilities. Wells took the first two pitches he saw — wayward, armside fastballs from Milwaukee starter Freddy Peralta — and on the third pitch, he pounced, connecting on an elevated heater. The ball crested over the outstretched glove of right fielder Sal Frelick into the first row of the famously close Yankee Stadium bleachers. Cue roars, cheers, loud music, jubilation.
That will not be the last short-porch poke for the left-handed-hitting Wells this season.
An inning later, Volpe doubled the New York lead with a high-arching moon shot into the right-field seats.
Two Opening Days ago, a fresh-faced Volpe, the boyhood Yankees fan from New Jersey, made his MLB debut to much anticipation and fanfare. In the two years since, he has teased the power and offensive impact that made him such a well regarded prospect while providing ample value in the field and on the bases. A real breakout with the bat has always seemed just around the corner.
The Yankees are hopeful that time has finally come. Volpe hit a ball this spring training harder than he’d ever hit a ball before. The swing that produced his Opening Day crank was an impressive, inside-out maneuver against an up-and-in fastball. It’s the type of athletic move that could make Volpe an All-Star.
Both Volpe and Wells are crucial not just to this season but also to the next half-decade of Yankees baseball. Aaron Judge will turn 33 in April. Cole will be 35 when he returns next season. Goldschmidt, Williams and Bellinger can be free agents this winter. Jazz Chisholm could depart the next winter.
And so, the blossoming of Volpe, Wells and Domínguez is not a pipe dream or a nice bonus. It is, as Boone said, something the Yankees are “relying upon.”
“Those guys are gonna be a big part of our future — and our success this year.”
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