Three takeaways from the Yankees' Opening Day win over the Brewers

1. Austin Wells really is the leading man

At the start of  spring training, manager Aaron Boone said he could envision “six or seven” different players hitting leadoff for his club, and not one of the names he mentioned was Austin Wells.

But the catcher, inserted there on March 7 in a Grapefruit League game against the Blue Jays, homered in his first at-bat hitting leadoff that night. He homered in his first at-bat leading off on Thursday, making Wells the first Yankee to hit an Opening Day leadoff home run and the first catcher to lead off an Opening Day game with a home run in MLB history.

“I didn’t really take it seriously,” Wells said with a slight smile Thursday, asked his reaction when Boone brought the idea of leading off to him in  spring training.

He may not be there against lefty starters, but then again, no reason to change it up now.

2. Carlos Rodon showed a more diverse repertoire of pitches

The lefthander always has been primarily a fastball-slider pitcher in his career, but he mixed in six pitches  in Thursday’s 4-2 victory over the Brewers, including a sinker he spent much of spring training trying to incorporate.

“You know, the scouting report on me the last few years has been four-seamers up in the zone, sliders below,” Rodon said. “And I’m sure the plan as a hitter was to try to cover the fastball, push me down in the zone, cover the fastball and react to sliders. So I think the broadening of the repertoire and adding a few other pitches that move a little different and the change of speeds, it definitely makes it less predictable.”

A long way to go, of course, but a promising sign for a rotation in need of promising signs after the hits it took in spring training.

3. The bullpen lived up to its billing

With all of the injuries the Yankees incurred during spring training, one area of the club that performed well was the bullpen (even though several of its arms were dinged as well).

The unit was mostly lights out Thursday, starting with sidearming lefthander Tim Hill — who took over for Rodon with two on and one out in the sixth inning and escaped a bases-loaded jam — and continuing with Mark Leiter Jr. and Luke Weaver. New closer Devin Williams was erratic at first, allowing  two hits and a walk to load the bases with none out, but the righthander quickly settled down after allowing a sacrifice fly. He picked up a hard-earned save against his former team by striking out Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich (although it took 15 pitches to retire them).

It appeared in spring training as though this unit will be among the best in the game this season, and Opening Day did nothing to dispel that.