Worrisome Austin Wells medical update adds suspicion to 2024 Yankees incident

Austin Wells' Yankees peak came in July and August 2024, and (hopefully) he's got plenty of time left in his tenure to attain those heights once again. Still, Monday's news, while not as awful as it could've been, still put a semi-permanent damper on the hopes that Wells will be able to reverse his recent trends and get back to the level he once reached.

The Yankees' patience with Wells paid off tremendously last summer; after posting OPS marks of .633 and .548 in his first two months in the lineup, he ascended in July, putting up back-to-back excellent .941 and .936 totals entering September.

That, sadly, represents a line of demarcation these days. Wells sat out two games in early Sept. 2024 nursing a hand bruise "after getting hit by a 95 MPH fastball". Fans initially feared the injury would prematurely end his season; it technically didn't, and Wells played through October, but below the surface, something had changed. He hit .111 with a .411 OPS in regular-season play in Sept./Oct., then .125, .059, and .176 in the three rounds of the postseason.

Yankee fans never saw the real Wells again, and after racking up a 93 OPS+ through three months of the 2025 season (better, but still below-average), doubt began to creep up that we'd ever know a better version of Wells as a "real" version in the future. Monday's comments after a bizarre and unexpected medical leave only made the situation more confounding.

Wells told reporters on Monday he'd sustained damage to his artery in his left index finger last year. Doctors were unable to find any reason to believe that the damage would worsen, but clearly bouts of numbness are affecting his grip strength and ability. The clear differences between pre-HBP and post-HBP Wells will definitely lead a skeptic to believe the injury was sustained after repeated impact. It seems fair to worry that one impact, in particular, set all of this in motion.

Austin Wells' bizarre artery damage adds worrisome layer to struggles since September 2024

This, again, begs the question: If the Yankees knew Wells was dealing with something this nebulous and undiagnosed since last season, why did they willingly trade away an All-Star catcher to their biggest rival?

Whatever the cause, it seems fair to say Wells' struggles are now officially physical rather than mental, and have emanated from an origin point that the Yankees can attempt to control, but can't eradicate. If you weren't worried about their future at catcher before, it's safe to say the lingering fear of a chronic injury has changed the calculus a bit.