Austin Wells sure doesn't sound happy about Yankees' decision to prioritize Ben Rice

The New York Yankees have been on a bit of a tear, winning six of their last seven games, and most of it has been due to impactful lineup changes enacted by manager Aaron Boone. He's been riding with the hot hand while sitting slumping players.

Because Giancarlo Stanton's been forced to play the field due to Aaron Judge's injury, it's relegated Jasson Dominguez to the bench for a good amount of contests. As for one other major decision, Boone has prioritized reps for Ben Rice over Austin Wells behind the plate.

Wells, who finished top-three in last year's Rookie of the Year voting, has fallen off a cliff. Some have speculated it could be due to his lingering finger injury that had concerning numbness complications, but the slide isn't exactly uncharacteristic.

2024 was Wells' first full season in pinstripes, and it was a bit of a rollercoaster. He was downright bad/unlucky in April/May when he was splitting reps with Jose Trevino, and then he caught fire from June-August. But then September was awful (.111 avg. and .411 OPS in 21 games). Overall, his .229/.322/.,395 line with 13 homers and 55 RBI in 115 games was solid.

This year? He's hitting .206/.263/.405 with 15 homers and 56 RBI in 97 games. His defense has taken a step back, too, resulting in a -0.3 bWAR. He especially became unplayable in June and July, and in no singular month did he have an on-base percentage over .288. His average never eclipsed .224.

Yankees' decision to prioritize Ben Rice over Austin Wells is making headlines

A change had to be made, particularly because the Yankees made a blood oath with Anthony Volpe and refuse to bench him no matter how bad the production gets. They couldn't have two hitters producing that poorly in the same lineup, so Rice, who has been one of the team's most consistent hitters all year without a true path to playing time, started taking catching reps from Wells over the last couple weeks.

Wells responded to that this week, and while he was supportive of his teammate and understanding of the team's decision, he doesn't seem too thrilled about it all.

“The numbers aren’t looking good, so I get it,” Wells told NJ.com. “I’ve been battling all year. But what the numbers say, I think I’ve played better than that. If you look at offensive profile this year, certain things have gotten better from last year. I’m producing with guys in scoring position.

“And if we’re looking at the catching, I’m one of the best catchers in the league."

While Yankees fans can respect Wells' confidence, he's far down the line when it comes to the better backstops in MLB. All of Cal Raleigh, Shea Langeliers, Hunter Goodman, Salvador Perez, Will Smith, Drake Baldwin, Williams Contreras, Dillon Dingler, Alejandro Kirk and JT Realmuto have been far better. The case could also be made for Sean Murphy, Agustin Ramirez, Yainer Diaz, Logan O'Hoppe, Ryan Jeffers and even former Yankee Carlos Narvaez.

Wells' peripheral metrics are in the toilet. When he was struggling at times last year, we could at least refer to some bad batted ball luck and hard-hit metrics to justify the downturn. This time? Not at all. His expected batting average in the 2nd percentile and his xwOBA (expected weighted on-base percentage) is in the 6th percentile. Only hit hard-hit rate (61st percentile) and bat speed (70th percentile) are positives from his offensive profile, and those marks aren't special.

In fact, Rice has been the one who's been more unlucky until he more recent breakout. He's been crushing the ball all season and seeing a ton of pitches during his at-bats, but fell victim to great defense or simply hitting rockets right at defenders.

Ever since Rice has started to catch fire, he's been far better than Wells was last year — and he's logging reps at first base to accommodate rest days for Paul Goldschmidt and more playing time for Wells.

Yankees fans certainly encourage Wells to maintain trust in himself and his abilities. That will be what's needed for him to get beyond what he's currently going through. But we can't sit here and say he's one of the best catchers in the league when he's got a .219/.292/.408 line with a 94 OPS+ through his first 231 games. We're pulling for him, though, so hopefully he can start a hot streak as the Yankees handle division opponents over the next five days.