That behind-the-scenes tour doesn’t compare, however, to Bell’s first chance in uniform.
“I was really nervous,” Bell said. “The first game, we actually didn’t go on the field yet. We were right behind the gate so we could get a feel for how the ball comes off the bat at this level. I just remember the first ball I got, it was an Anthony Rizzo foul down the first-base line. I ran out and backhanded it, and I was like, ‘Oh, thank God.’”
Those years of practice continue to pay off nightly for Bell, who has made several stellar plays in pinstripes – one, a backhand stab of a DJ LeMahieu hot shot, merited replays on the YES Network. There’s homework involved; Bell said she studies the angles of walls just like an outfielder would.
“Something I had to learn over time is, it’s how you read the ball off the bat,” she said. “Most of them are tailing, and when they’re tailing, they’re going to hit off the wall and the spin completely changes. The reaction time isn’t from when it hits the bat, it’s from when it hits off the wall. Honestly, it’s a lot harder than it looks.”
Each day presents unique challenges. Bell said she served a two-game stint filling in for a dugout bat boy, a last-minute assignment she eagerly snapped up.
“That was insane,” Bell said. “Seeing all the players next to me – I’m 5-foot-4, so having Aaron Judge next to me, he’s huge! I was high-fiving all the guys when they came in from warmups, and I had to learn on the fly whose bat is whose, and when to run out and all that.”
When she’s not in pinstripes, Bell is continuing her studies in grad school, focusing on digital marketing. She said her ultimate goal would be an opportunity where she can combine that marketing knowledge with sports.
But for now, she’s thrilled to be a Yankee, and part of a program that answers the question she asked her Mom at age 6.
“I always remember looking at the bat boys and thinking, ‘How did they get to be in the dugout?’” Bell said. “You never really saw girls around baseball too much. Now, a lot of girls might be too shy to talk to me, but their parents are like, ‘She thinks your job is super cool.’
“I tell them, ‘In 10 years, you’re probably going to be sitting where I’m sitting right now.’”
