Yankees insider reveals root cause of Austin Wells' headaches, provides hope for continued surge

If your prevailing thought while watching Austin Wells' offense plummet in the first half was, "There has to be something more going on here," you were very clearly onto something. Heading into his third full season, the prevailing wisdom was that Wells would continue to make strides with the bat thanks to emboldened confidence, especially after starring for Team Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. Instead, his poise behind the plate earned him a starting role in perpetuity, but his bat was worst-in-the-league bad by the time the trade deadline rolled around.

Wells hit .200 with a .688 OPS in March/April, hardly the sterling start fans were hoping for, but not quite a blaring alarm bell. The unfathomable pace started later in the month of April, turning May into a .154/.436 slog and June into a .061/.152 mess (with zero walks!) that led to a trip to the Injured List on June 6 after just a handful of games.

The stated cause was "cervical headaches," a diagnosis so mysterious it left fans torn on whether Wells was actively suffering from a malady or just needed cover to earn himself a reset.

But though some angered fans didn't allow themselves to notice, Wells returned with renewed vigor. The sustained progress didn't come in July (.188/.687, similar to his "healthy" April), leading to emphatic calls of trade deadline negligence. But his OPS crossed .700 in August and .800 in September, and his overall second-half splits (.229 average, .351 OBP, .787 OPS), combined with his handling of the pitch staff, painted a brighter picture. Outside of a base running bungle on the national stage in the ALDS, his playoff work was also a step forward.

Wells spoke to Brendan Kuty after the Yankees' season wrapped and revealed both the cause and extent of the headaches that led to fans calling for his head. With Cam Schlittler on the mound on both April 23 at Fenway Park and two weeks later at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wells' mask was rocked by direct-impact foul tips. Watching the video footage of the initial blow, it's obvious the catcher is in immediate discomfort.

Austin Wells' cervical headaches began at Fenway Park and nearly ruined his Yankees season

“I was able to pass the concussion tests, so I didn’t really think anything of it," Wells told Kuty on Oct. 7, which aligns with Aaron Boone's statements at the time of the IL stint that he wasn't entirely aware of a new issue. Wells believes the resulting limits to his pitch recognition abilities were directly tied to these moments, and the evidence bears it out.

The Yankees seemingly have no plans to move on from Wells, a wise decision, given how integral he's always been to their pitchers' success, earning a Gold Glove finalist nod this year after starting out in the system with a less-than-stellar defensive reputation. The one thing they must do, though, is be intentional about getting him a right-handed caddy. Ali Sanchez types are unacceptable moving forward; Wells hit .122 in 99 plate appearances against left-handed pitching.

Believing that Wells will solve lefties is a fool's game. But believing in his bat isn't so difficult, especially after we saw it down the stretch and now have a clear view of what caused the initial downturn. The Yankees would be wise to invest in his success further.

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