NEW YORK — No position on the Yankees roster has produced less this season than catcher, and no everyday player has struggled more than Austin Wells.
The numbers border on historic. Wells is hitting .157 with a .499 OPS through 190 plate appearances, and his 42 wRC+ ranks among the four worst marks in baseball. He is ranked recently as the worst hitter in Major League Baseball this year.
No Yankee has posted a lower OPS in a season of at least 175 at-bats since Jim Mason’s .445 mark in 1976. Only four players in franchise history have carried a .160 average or worse through 185 plate appearances, a list that includes Joey Gallo, Mason and Dick Howser.
A production hole that deep, on a contender, five weeks from the trade deadline, would normally guarantee a splashy trade. The Yankees have chased far smaller upgrades in far calmer summers, and the market even has obvious names on it.
Yet the latest reporting suggests the Yankees are unlikely to make that move. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com wrote this week that while general manager Brian Cashman will attack the bullpen market, the catching position is a different story.
Relievers yes, catcher probably not
Feinsand laid out the front office’s expected deadline posture in plain terms.
“Cashman has a history of making the moves he deems necessary at the Deadline, so the Yankees will likely add a relief arm or two,” Feinsand wrote for MLB.com. “Catcher is a different situation.”
The reasoning is rooted in the pitching staff. Feinsand reported that Cashman has been historically reluctant to bring in a new everyday catcher during the season because of the potential disruption to a staff that has largely carried the Yankees this year.
That logic explains why Wells keeps his job despite the bat. He grades out as an above-average pitch framer, the pitchers credit him for their success, and the Yankees have little internal competition after trading away Agustin Ramirez, Carlos Narvaez and Jesus Rodriguez in recent years.
The team-wide cost is steep. Yankees catchers rank 14th in baseball with a .178 average, own a .526 OPS and sit dead last with 19 RBIs from the position, according to Feinsand’s reporting.
Boone keeps preaching patience with Wells
Publicly, the Yankees continue to back their catcher. Manager Aaron Boone was asked about the slump and pointed to what the coaching staff sees under the surface.
“I feel like he’s been in position a lot better on a lot more pitches, whether it’s a take, whether it’s foul ball, whether it’s an out,” Boone said. “I feel like he’s getting in a stronger position. If he does that, the results will follow.”
The faith has limits in practice. The Yankees called up Ali Sanchez from Triple-A last month, and the backup has hit .286 with a .729 OPS in a small early sample, quietly eating into Wells’ playing time. Wells hit 21 home runs a season ago, which is why the organization keeps waiting for the bat to reappear.
The targets still sitting on the board
The reluctance is notable because the market fits. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported last month that the Yankees have strong interest in Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, widely viewed as the best and safest right-handed-hitting catcher expected to be available before Aug. 3.
Jeffers was hitting .295 with a .949 OPS, seven home runs and 26 RBIs in 37 games before a fractured left hamate bone ended his first half in mid-May. Aaron Gleeman reported Friday that Jeffers has begun a rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul, roughly six weeks after surgery. The pending free agent also has a connection in the Bronx through Yankees catching guru Tanner Swanson, who worked with him in Minnesota.
The alternatives carry complications. Colorado’s Hunter Goodman offers 30-homer power and three years of club control beyond 2026, which sets a high acquisition price for a hitter with a strikeout rate above 30 percent. Kansas City’s Salvador Perez looms as a change-of-scenery flier, though the 36-year-old carries a 58 wRC+ this season.
There is also a theory circulating among Yankees observers that the uncharacteristic leak of the Jeffers interest could be a smokescreen for a different pursuit entirely, given how tightly Cashman usually controls information.
The Twins series could decide who is even available
One more wrinkle sits in the visiting dugout this weekend. The Twins arrived at Yankee Stadium at 42-46, four games back in the AL Central, and their front office is widely expected to tip into seller mode if this stretch goes badly. The Yankees’ 5-2 win Friday night pushed Minnesota one game closer to that decision.
In other words, the Yankees may be nudging their most logical catcher trade partner toward selling while simultaneously signaling they are unlikely to buy at the position.
Nothing about the deadline is settled. Cashman has a long history of landing the exact players his organization gets linked to, and a July collapse from Wells could force a rethink before the Yankees’ window to act closes. But as of now, the reporting points one way. The Yankees see their catching problem, and they appear ready to live with it.
The Aug. 3 deadline will reveal whether that patience is conviction or a bluff.
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