PITTSBURGH — As Austin Wells headed for the exit in PNC Park’s visiting clubhouse on Sunday morning, Yankees spokesperson Jason Zillo called out his name.
“Stay humble,” Zillo told Wells, who stopped to listen to the advice before walking out of the room.
Wells had just concluded a very important media scrum near his locker. The subject?
His new Instagram account dedicated to ranking the clubhouse breakfast burritos the Yankees eat on the road.
“I just really like breakfast burritos, and we always have them everywhere we go,” the catcher explained. “And I was like, ‘I’m just gonna make a joke and make a little Instagram account, maybe have some teammates follow me and post something about it.’ And now it’s not a small thing anymore. So now I feel the pressure to post.
“There’s no going back.”
Wells has only posted twice on his account, named “wells.ranked.burritos,” but he’s already accumulated over 53,000 followers after rating two burritos at PNC Park, which came from Pittsburgh’s Parkhurst Dining.
The account has quickly become popular among Yankees fans. Aaron Boone also endorsed the venture.
“I love it,” the manager said, adding that he also enjoys burritos. “You want to keep those side hustles and side gigs going with these guys.”
However, one Yankee is not a fan of Wells’ account.
“I hate it,” said a smiling Anthony Volpe, who is incredibly close with Wells. “Just attention seeking.”
While Wells may not have the blessing of a dear friend, he plans to post through it, as any committed social media user would. He’s open to the idea of his account being for all burritos, but for now he’s just focused on the breakfast variety.
Chorizo is his go-to, and he prefers “a little crisp on the tortilla” and “a lot of eggs.” He’s good with “simple,” but expects “good flavor.”
When he’s not in baseball clubhouses, Wells said his favorite breakfast burrito spots in New York City are The Elk and Little Ruby’s. Sunday’s burrito at PNC left the backstop slightly underwhelmed, as it had steak in it. Wells only gave it a 73 out of 100 after giving a chorizo burrito an 87 in his first post.
Asked about his rating system, Wells said, “I feel like everyone uses 1 out of 10, and I didn’t want to be like anybody else. I wanted to be different.”
Boone, meanwhile, has his own system.
“We tend to rank things on the coaching staff more on the 20-80 scouting scale,” he said. “So I’ve been pleased with the breakfast burritos here. The first day, I threw out a 60, which is a fringy All-Star, everyday guy. Threw out another 60 for today’s. I only went with half [a burrito] because I’m playing for the tie on this trip from a calorie intake standpoint.”
Wells isn’t the only person in the Yankees’ universe critiquing food now, either.
YES Network reporter Meredith Marakovits created an account for play-by-play man Michael Kay to rank ballpark chicken tenders after PNC Park’s initially left him disappointed. The account is aptly named “kay_eats_tendies” and has a tenderized image of Kay as the profile picture.
“Is that a real thing?” Boone asked. “I’ll have to add that to my leisure time activities.”
The account is indeed real, and it’s gotten Wells’ attention.
“A little bit,” Wells said when asked if he’s concerned about competing with Kay. “I did see some things. I mean, he has a way better profile picture than me, so I’m gonna have to maybe talk to AI or something and have them make me one. But yeah, I’m a little worried. We’ll see how it goes.
“It should be fun.”
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