NEW YORK — The New York Yankees are 7-2 and playing some of the best baseball in the sport. The starting pitchers have been historic. The top of the order has been dangerous. But as the Yankees head into a three-game series against the Athletics, a quiet concern is getting louder around one player the offense cannot afford to keep writing off.
Austin Wells, the Yankees’ starting catcher and first-round draft investment, is in trouble at the plate. Heading into the Athletics series, he is batting .167 with zero extra-base hits through nine games. No home runs. No doubles. No RBIs. Just four singles and a mounting strikeout rate that has caught the attention of at least one major voice in baseball media.
Sherman sounds the alarm on Wells
New York Post insider Joel Sherman, one of the more plugged-in voices covering the Yankees beat, raised the Wells concern on his Pinstripe Post podcast. Sherman framed it carefully at first, drawing a comparison to first baseman Ben Rice, whose early-career swing decisions led Sherman to buy in on his long-term potential.
“Wells is the issue for me. I made this point about Rice and Wells in the past, and Rice has turned out to be good. When you make good swing decisions, you generally end up being a good offensive player. Trent Grisham makes good swing decisions. He lays off the bad pitches. He swings at what he should,” Sherman said.
Sherman acknowledged that Rice’s success was partly rooted in sound plate discipline, pointing to how those early indicators of quality swing decisions proved out over time. With Wells, he said, the early encouraging signs have started to fade.
“The earliest versions of Wells were really good swing decisions into well-hit balls when he hit them. That has felt like it’s backed up a little bit. He hit so great in the WBC. I thought, well, maybe he’s ready for the full breakout,” Sherman said.
Then came the part that caught attention. Sherman did not pull his punch when assessing where his confidence in Wells currently sits.
“For someone who I would’ve bought stock that the offense will come, I’ve lost a little faith that the offense will come. I’m not completely off of that ship because I still think there’s an offensive player in him. I’m starting a little bit to lose faith. And again, that will be the thing where you have to make the decision: does he become a guy you pinch hit for late?”
The numbers back up the concern
Wells entered the Athletics series with a strikeout rate of 32.1 percent, the highest mark of his Yankees career. His hard-hit percentage has also been below his usual standard. His slash line stands at .167/.286/.167, with the matching batting average and slugging percentage reflecting a complete absence of power output.
For context, Wells hit 21 home runs and drove in 71 runs for the Yankees in 2025 while batting .219. The average was never his strength, but the pop was always the reason the Yankees carried him as an everyday starter. Right now, none of that pop is showing up.
Empire Sports Media analyst Alexander Wilson took a closer look at the mechanical side of the problem. Wilson noted that Wells adjusted his hand position during the offseason to create a better bat path to the ball, shortening the distance his hands travel from their start position to the contact zone. When the timing on that kind of adjustment is right, it produces earlier contact and more pull-side production. When the timing lags, as it appears to be doing now, hitters end up late through the zone and generate weak contact or swing through pitches they would normally punish.
Wilson noted that Wells’ elevated whiff rate is a symptom of that timing lag, not a sign of deeper problems. On Sunday against the Miami Marlins, Wells made hard contact on several at-bats that simply did not fall for hits, which the Yankees organization took as an encouraging sign that the adjustment is close to clicking.
Yankees say the breakout is near
The Yankees have not panicked publicly. They see Wells as a player moving through a mechanical adjustment rather than one who has lost his way as a hitter. Wells is 26 years old and was drafted by the organization in the first round in 2020 specifically because of his offensive profile. His development behind the plate has been the story of his early career. The bat, the Yankees have always believed, was always going to come.
That belief is being tested nine games into the season. The Yankees’ lineup is top-heavy in a way that puts real strain on the middle and bottom of the order to eventually contribute. The No. 6 through No. 9 spots are a combined .143 with a .404 OPS, both of which rank last in the majors. The Yankees are the only team in baseball that has not received a home run from those positions.
Wells bats seventh and is currently the lightest bat in a section of the lineup that already includes Jose Caballero (.129 average) and Ryan McMahon (.087). If Wells continues to drag at the plate through the Athletics series, the conversation around pinch-hitting him late in games will get harder for the Yankees to dismiss.
Manager Aaron Boone has expressed public confidence that the bottom of the order will turn it around. He used similar language about McMahon after Sunday’s loss, saying the third baseman just needed to “let it rip a little bit.” The same patience is being extended to Wells for now.
Sherman’s comments suggest the outside world may not be willing to wait much longer for proof.
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