Wells twins talk rivalry, Aussie slang, more

If training at home through a global pandemic has taught Lachlan and Alexander Wells anything, it’s that their sibling rivalry is still alive and well.

It’s been more than half a decade since the Aussie left-handers have played on any team together, but after years of battling in the backyard, tackling each other in rugby scrimmages, seeing who could make the other run the most to collect batted cricket balls and fighting through footy, Lachlan recently stepped into the batter’s box against his very slightly older brother and the familiar feeling returned.

“I thought I would do the right thing and feed him a fastball down the middle,” Alexander said. “I gave him a good pitch to hit and he hit it off the end of the bat, so it was like all right, that’s all you’re getting.”

“First pitch heater, ground ball to second base,” Lachlan said. “That’s it. Off the end of the bat. I was standing so far away from the plate. I’m not getting anywhere near it. I swung pretty much with my eyes closed. … I wasn’t going to get back in there because he was definitely going to throw me a breaking ball or a changeup, or a slider or something like that. I don’t want to stand anywhere near that.”

Fortunately for Lachlan, both 23-year-old prospects have plenty of local volunteers willing to join them at the field where they grew up playing in New South Wales, Australia, to get a taste of professional pitching while the identical twins get their work in.

“They don’t shy away from it,” Lachlan said. “They’re just having fun and so are we. It’s like playing a sandlot game almost. We just ask them if they want to turn up and ask them to stand there and take at-bats. They love it. They think it’s unreal. It’s a lot of fun.”

While the Wells brothers are finding ways to continue their development and enjoy the process, losing the 2020 Minor League season was a tough blow. Alexander, Baltimore’s No. 14 prospect, was invited to big league Spring Training after a full season last year at Double-A Bowie, where he posted a 2.95 ERA over 24 starts and 137 1/3 innings with 24 walks and 105 strikeouts. He didn’t get into a Major League game before baseball’s hiatus because of an oblique issue and is now healthy and at home in Newcastle.

After arriving two weeks later than scheduled because of a visa holdup, Lachlan was raring to show the Twins what he had in the tank after returning from Tommy John surgery for 10 games and 49 innings last year, coming into spring in better shape than ever. He got two weeks in Fort Myers, Fla., before returning to Sydney.

“It’s a global pandemic,” Alexander said. “You’ve got to take it on the chin.”

The twins are hoping they don’t have to do that for an entire year though, with the Australian Baseball League set to potentially get underway in just a few months. Lachlan is already locked in to return to the Sydney Blue Sox, and Alexander plans to join him as soon as the Orioles sign off on a development plan.

“It would be fun,” Alexander said. “We’ve never -- when was the last time we [played together?] -- well obviously club ball growing up and stuff like Australian teams but it’s been a while. It would be fun.”

“I think it would be too,” Lachlan said, before the two agreed that it might bring their rivalry back to the forefront. They quickly realized that energy would be better focused on their opponents, but also offered up a glimpse of what they would share with their own teammates if they ever matched up against one another.

“I’m 100 percent helping my teammates if we’re facing Alexander,” Lachlan said.

“Well now that you say that, I’m going to help my teammates as well,” Alexander said. “Lachlan will like to throw his fastball a lot. Breaking ball, pretty good. Changeup’s really good, probably his best pitch out of all three. But if you lay off everything else, just sit on the fastball.”

Lachlan also offered a scouting report on his brother: “He does throw his offspeed behind in the count, loves doing that, so don’t be surprised if you get a 2-1 changeup or a 3-1 changeup. Fastball rides through the zone, so expect the ball to be up in the zone. Just hunt fastball. Stay away from the breaking stuff because it’s good. Just sit heater. If you get one, you’re probably not going to get another one so just swing.”

While both brothers believe they know the way to beat the other, there are also traits they would love to take from one another if they had the chance.

“I would take his curveball,” Lachlan said. “Actually I’ll take two -- I’ll take his curveball and his accuracy, just being able to dot up anything where he wants. He’s so accurate, I’ll take that. That’s what I want. I don’t know if Alexander wants anything of mine.”

“His aggressiveness on the mound,” Alexander said. “I don’t really show a lot of emotion, but I’ve seen Lachlan in big moments get really fired up. When we were playing club ball a few years ago in the championship grand final game, it was a big moment, big strikeout and he was just so fired up. I was playing right field and I could hear him screaming on the way in and I was just like 'man, he’s fired up.' So I want that, I would take his aggressiveness on the mound, that energy that he brings to the game.”

“I didn’t think he was going to bring that up,” Lachlan added. “I thought he maybe wants a little couple extra miles an hour on his fastball, but I guess he can have a little bit of aggressiveness.”

The Wells brothers make it obvious that there can be a fine line between competition and affection between siblings, but for all the battling they’ve done and will continue to do, there’s no doubt about the pride they share for one another.

“Obviously getting through surgery, that’s a big thing, I’m proud of him for doing that and not giving up, not throwing the towel in,” Alexander said of Lachlan. “And pitching in the World Baseball Classic against Japan in 2017, as a 20-year-old against Japan in front of 50,000 Japanese people in the Tokyo Dome, and not holding back, attacking them. That was pretty cool.”

“When he pitched in the Futures Game in 2018 in Washington,” Lachlan said of Alexander. “It was fun. The Twins let me, because that’s when I just had surgery … It was pretty cool. He pitched in a big league stadium with about 30,000 people there, pitching with the international team, the World Team, going up against some of the best prospects from the US side. … He got two outs -- did you almost give up a home run?”

“Yeah it got caught on the warning track,” Alexander laughed.

“Almost gave up a home run, but it was good fun,” Lachlan said. "It was a pretty proud moment for the family. I tried to video as much as I could but my phone was broken, the camera, so it was all shaky. And people thought I was shaking because I was so nervous for him.”

“I think he was,” Alexander said.

“It was the camera, mate,” Lachlan said.