NEW YORK — The New York Yankees are 8-4 and sitting on top of the American League East. Their pitching staff has been historically sharp. Their lineup, top to bottom, has the look of a pennant contender on most nights.
But something is quietly wrong at the bottom of that order. And the face of that problem is wearing No. 28.
Austin Wells, the 26-year-old catcher who set career highs last season with 21 home runs and 71 RBIs, is not hitting. He is batting .167 and has yet to hit a single extra-base hit. The power that defined his 2025 campaign is nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, the players lined up behind him on the depth chart are putting up numbers that are impossible to ignore.
Thursday’s loss showed the problem plainly
In the Yankees’ 1-0 loss to the Athletics on Thursday, the team’s most dangerous rally was a seventh-inning sequence that put two runners on base. Giancarlo Stanton drew a walk. Ben Rice grounded a single through the right side for the club’s only hit of the afternoon.
Wells came to the plate with two runners on and one out. He flew out. The inning ended. The Yankees never threatened again.
Since tallying two hits on Opening Day, Wells has gone 3-for-27 with two singles, a double, four walks, and 11 strikeouts. That stretch covers nine games. He was also held out of Wednesday’s lineup as a scheduled rest day, with JC Escarra filling in behind the plate.
Wells shrugged off the concern after the loss, maintaining that his approach at the plate is sound even if the results have not followed.
“I feel pretty good [at the plate],” Wells said. “Swinging at the right pitches. I’m just not getting much results. So, keep going.”
His manager offered a gentle defense but acknowledged the need for more production.
“A little better, actually. He’s been one of those guys struggling a little bit,” Aaron Boone said. “The last AB there, where we had a couple runners on, I thought he put together a pretty good at-bat and got some good swings off.”
“I feel like there’s been some games where he’s had some quality at-bats,” Boone added, “but obviously we got to get it more consistent, start getting some results. Obviously, he’s a guy that drives the ball as well.”
What the Yankees do have is an insider who is publicly losing faith. New York Post reporter Joel Sherman, appearing on his Pinstripe Post podcast, framed Wells’s slump in pointed terms.
“Wells is the issue for me,” Sherman said. “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. For someone who I would’ve bought stock that the offense will come, I’ve lost a little faith that the offense will come.”
Dominguez, Jones knocking Yankees door
If Wells stays cold over the next week or two, a brief reset in Triple-A makes sense.
The corresponding call-up writes itself. Jasson Dominguez is hitting .379 with two homers and a 1.110 OPS through seven Triple-A games and has 149 major league appearances under his belt. He is not a prospect learning the ropes. He is a player who has already been in the Bronx, already handled big-league pitching, and is clearly ready right now.
Spencer Jones is the more tantalizing long-term option, but his 55.6 percent strikeout rate through his first six Triple-A games makes him a risk the Yankees cannot absorb mid-slump. Dominguez is the safer, smarter call.
Yankees have options for lineup shake-up
The Yankees have a real argument for keeping Wells in the lineup. His game-calling and pitch framing have directly contributed to a pitching staff that has posted one of the lowest team ERAs in baseball through the season’s first two weeks. That defensive value is not nothing.
The Yankees are also 8-4. They are first in the AL East. The sample size is seven percent of the season. History says Wells will hit.
But history also said the same about Wells last year, when he hit .219 with a below-average offensive line before finding his power swing in the second half. The Yankees cannot afford to wait that long with Dominguez hitting .379 fifty miles away and a 1.380 OPS, and Goldschmidt sitting on the bench with his bat gathering dust.
The Yankees have built a roster with enough depth to cover any one position. They can divide the backstop duty between Ben Rice and JC Escarra in Wells’ absence. Shifting Rice behind the plate more often would allow Paul Goldschmidt to play first base more regularly and give Wells a chance to sit, reset, and return when he is actually hitting.
Goldschmidt, the former NL MVP who signed a one-year deal in December, is batting .222 with one homer in limited action. He was brought in specifically to handle left-handed pitching, a role in which he slashed .336/.411/.570 last season. With Rice dominating at first base and Wells struggling behind the plate, the case for getting Goldschmidt more reps and Rice more catching time is straightforward.
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