Yankees' Austin Wells has impressive display of power with HR that fooled YES cameras

It's been a tough year for Austin Wells. After the way he finished 2023, there were high hopes for his rookie season to be successful, especially surrounded by this much talent on the New York Yankees' roster.

But he's been the victim of so much bad luck. He's cut back on his strikeouts, improved his defense, and maintained a solid walk rate. But he has a horrific .241 BABIP and his sweet spot % is among the best in the league with not much to show for it.

Entering Tuesday night's game, he was hitting just .200 with a .580 OPS in 38 games. He had seven doubles, one homer and seven RBI in 128 plate appeareances. If he wasn't a left-swinging backup catcher with pop and an above-average glove, he probably would've been sent down by now.

But the tides have to turn for the young slugger at some point, right? Maybe Tuesday was the night, because this power display in the fourth inning cannot go unnoticed. Wells uncorked a three-run homer off Brady Singer for his first blast since April.

On the surface, it doesn't sound all that impressive. But Wells turned on this pitch in an 0-2 count and it looked like he got jammed. Even the YES Network cameras were fooled. And the ball somehow traveled 417 feet.

Yankees' Austin Wells has incredible display of power with HR that fooled YES cameras

How he managed to get the barrel on that inside 92 MPH sinker and overpower Singer in that manner is exactly why he's still getting consistent reps. Wells' claim to fame when he was drafted out of Arizona was that his bat could accelerate to MLB readiness faster than most.

The tools are there. The talent is there. Just need the results to gradually come around. Thankfully, Wells has been afforded the proper time to develop because of how good the Yankees have been this year. As he works out the kinks, the Yankees aren't hurting themselves by leaving his underperforming bat at the bottom of the lineup multiple times per week.

Carlos Rodón rediscovered himself in Kansas City on Monday night. Perhaps Wells got the moment he needed to harness that consistent power and production. Not only did he give the Yankees a 6-0 lead, but he paved the way for two more monster blasts off the bats of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton that made it a 10-0 game.

This'll be a nice one for Wells (and Yankees fans) to sleep on.