Yankees fans shouldn't care about 'silver linings' with Austin Wells' poor play

An Austin Wells apologist narrative has surfaced amid the New York Yankees catcher's poor start to the 2026 season, but fans shouldn't be buying it. Because at this point, Wells has been in MLB since September of 2023. What more do we need to learn?

Wells posted a .164 batting average, .536 OPS, and just two RBI through his first 21 games played. Among Yankees with at least 40 at-bats on the season, only the ice-cold Ryan McMahon had a lower batting average and OPS than Wells (and McMahon has double the RBI). He's since raised the mark to .200/.688 and struck a key home run in Tuesday's win in Texas, but is still a below-average offensive presence (which is odd for a bat-first catcher).

Wells' ugly start prompted X user @ChrisCoop_ to peer under the hood and craft an argument in Wells' defense, but the detailed statistical treatise basically did nothing but serve as a reminder that only advanced (and less meaningful) metrics can paint Wells as anything other than a bad offensive player in 2026, and even that takes some serious convincing. Why exactly should Yankees fans expect things to get better for Wells?

Austin Wells hasn't established any trust with Yankees fans (outside of his defense)

Looking beneath basic statistics is a valid way to investigate what's really going on with a struggling player and predict their return to form, but only if that player has proven to be successful to a considerable degree for many years (or in the recent past). For example, Yankees observers performed a glance under the hood for Trent Grisham recently, foreshadowing Grisham's imminent breakout.

But Grisham isn't in the same position as Wells, and that's because Trent is coming off a productive year in which he had sustained success (featuring 34 home runs) over a full season and led a segment of fans (and the Yankees' front office, apparently!) into thinking that such production would be repeated in 2026.

Wells performed below expectations last season, regressing from his official rookie season with a diminished batting average and OPS and tallying strikeouts at a higher rate (118 Ks in 401 at-bats in 2025).

Yankees fans perked up when Wells performed well in the World Baseball Classic, but he's reverted to 2025-type vibes (worse, actually) now that the MLB season is well underway. If you want to peer under the hood to argue why Wells will continue not to hit, you have my attention. But any other argument will fall on deaf ears.

Only some increased slugging for Yankees can save Austin Wells now

Wells has a .299 on-base percentage through his first 895 MLB at-bats. Maybe he'll turn the corner soon (he's 26 years old), or maybe this is just who he is: not a good offensive player at the MLB level.

Wells did hit 21 homers in 2025. His ability to feast on that short porch at Yankee Stadium might provide the one path he has to grasping onto some value offensively for the Yanks. But even then, a unique ballpark advantage probably isn't enough to point toward his potential ceiling as an offensive threat.

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