Wells isn't in the lineup for Saturday's game against Baltimore.
Wells will get a day off Saturday after going 1-for-4 in Friday's series opener. His absence will give J.C. Escarra a start at catcher.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Sitting out Wednesday
Rotowire
Wells is absent from the lineup for Wednesday's game versus the Angels.
Wells will get a breather Wednesday after he started at catcher in both of the first two games of the series. Ben Rice will pick up his first career start at catcher for the Yankees after having previously served as a designated hitter or first baseman since making his MLB debut last summer.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Receiving Sunday off
Rotowire
Wells is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Red Sox.
It's likely just a standard rest day for Wells, who went 1-for-7 with an RBI while starting the first two games of the series. J.C. Escarra will step in behind the plate to catch for ace Max Fried in Sunday's finale.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Plates five
Rotowire
Wells went 2-for-4 with a three-run home run, a two-run double and an additional run scored during Tuesday's 10-2 win over the Royals.
Wells accumulated five RBI for the second time this season, clubbing his 11th homer and his 11th double of the campaign as part of the monster day. The catcher has registered a hit in eight of his last 10 outings, going 11-for-34 (.324) with three homers, 10 RBI and seven runs during that stretch.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Getting night off
Rotowire
Wells is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Red Sox.
Wells will bow out of the starting nine for the series finale after he handled catching duties for the Yankees in each of the past four games. J.C. Escarra will step in for Wells behind the dish.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Night off Tuesday
Rotowire
Wells is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Guardians.
It's a routine day off for Wells, who started the previous three contests and five of the last six games. J.C. Escarra will be behind the dish and bat eighth for the Yankees.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Lifts ninth homer
Rotowire
Wells went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in Friday's 8-5 loss to the Dodgers.
Wells has been decent at the plate lately, going 6-for-27 (.222) with three extra-base hits and four RBI over his last eight games. The catcher continues to see a majority of the playing time behind the plate. His homer Friday was his first since May 12 in Seattle, and he's up to nine long balls on the year. Wells has added a .209/.276/.449 slash line, 32 RBI, 19 runs scored, three stolen bases, nine doubles and a triple across 181 plate appearances.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Idle Wednesday
Rotowire
Wells is not in the Yankees' starting lineup against the Angels on Wednesday.
Wells will get a breather after going 1-for-7 with one RBI in the first two games of the series. J.C. Escarra will serve behind home plate to catch for Clarke Schmidt.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Taking seat Sunday
Rotowire
Wells is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Rockies, Erik Boland of Newsday reports.
Wells started the first two games of the series and went 3-for-8 with a double, two RBI and two runs, but he'll receive a breather for Sunday's finale. J.C. Escarra will step in behind the plate to catch for Will Warren.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Getting Friday off
Rotowire
Wells isn't in the lineup for Friday's game against the Athletics.
Wells will take a seat Friday after going 3-for-12 with a home run, five RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base in New York's previous series against the Padres. J.C. Escarra will start behind the plate and bat seventh.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Cranks sixth long ball
Rotowire
Wells went 1-for-4 with a solo home run Saturday in a loss to the Rays.
Wells gave New York a 2-1 lead with his fifth-inning blast, but Tampa Bay scored twice in the eighth to pull out the victory. The homer extended the backstop's on-base streak to eight games, a stretch during which he's batting .265 with two long balls, four doubles and eight RBI. On the season, Wells is hitting just .208, but he's tied for fourth among catchers with 18 RBI and is tied for fifth with six home runs.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Grabbing seat Tuesday
Rotowire
Wells is absent from the lineup for Tuesday's game in Cleveland.
It's a routine day off for Wells, who started each of the previous three contests. J.C. Escarra will do the catching and bat eighth for the Yankees.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Launches homer in win
Rotowire
Wells went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in Sunday's 4-0 win over Tampa Rays.
Wells put the finishing touches on Sunday's victory, taking Garrett Cleavinger deep in the top of the ninth inning for New York's final run of the game. The catcher is now batting .197 with four home runs, 10 RBI and seven runs scored over 61 at-bats in 19 games this season. After homering in each of the first two games of the season, Wells has now hit a more modest two more home runs since that hot start.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Riding pine Thursday
Rotowire
Wells is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Rays.
The Yankees will give Wells a chance to regroup after the 25-year-old managed just one hit -- a solo home run -- in 11 at-bats during New York's previous series against Kansas City. J.C. Escarra will fill in behind the plate Thursday and bat seventh.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Batting sixth again Tuesday
Rotowire
Wells will start at catcher and bat sixth in Tuesday's contest against the Diamondbacks.
After hitting leadoff on Opening Day, Wells has now batted sixth in three straight games, including in two straight against right-handed pitching. Paul Goldschmidt is again serving as the Yankees' leadoff hitter. The development dings Wells' fantasy outlook a bit, as he had appeared in line to be the team's regular leadoff hitter versus righties.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Goes deep again Saturday
Rotowire
Wells went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in Saturday's 20-9 romp over the Brewers.
With a left-hander starting on the mound for Milwaukee, Wells batted sixth in the lineup rather than occupying the leadoff spot as he did on Opening Day. However, that didn't affect his performance at the plate, as the third-year catcher went deep in the first inning for one of four Yankees long balls in the frame and one of a franchise-record nine hit by the team overall in the win. After an eye-opening six-homer performance during Grapefruit League play, Wells has continued to impress at the start of the regular season, going deep in each of his first two contests.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Confirmed as leadoff hitter
Rotowire
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said on the Talkin' Yanks podcast by Jomboy Media on Tuesday that Wells will be the team's leadoff hitter Opening Day versus Brewers right-hander Freddy Peralta.
The revelation comes as no surprise, as Wells has batted at the top of the order consistently over the last few weeks in Grapefruit League play. Wells is likely to hit lower in the order or get days off against lefties, although No. 2 catcher J.C. Escarra and No. 3 catcher Ben Rice also bat left-handed.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Continues big spring
Rotowire
Wells went 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs and four total RBI against Detroit in a Grapefruit League victory Friday.
Wells accounted for all of the runs in the contest, leading off the game with a solo shot to right field and adding a three-run blast to left-center in the seventh. The backstop has put together a superb spring, slashing .366/.409/.780 with five homers, 10 RBI and 10 runs over 44 plate appearances. Wells has frequently batted leadoff during the exhibition slate, and Bryan Hoch of MLB.com says that Wells "looks like a lock" to hit out of the No. 1 spot versus righties once the regular season begins.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: Could lead off this season
Rotowire
Wells is a candidate to bat leadoff for the Yankees during the 2025 campaign, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.
Wells and Jazz Chisholm have been getting most of the reps in the leadoff spot this spring, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone has indicated that both players are being considered for the role come the regular season. While Wells' lack of speed and .229 batting average to this point in his big-league career aren't typical of a leadoff hitter, he has shown an acumen for getting on base, frequently recording double-digit walk rates in the minors and posting an 11.4 percent walk rate over 414 plate appearances with the big club last year. Hoch notes that the Yankees have never had a catcher bat leadoff in a regular-season game over the long history of the franchise.
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Yankees' Austin Wells: No games until March 1
Rotowire
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Monday that Wells won't make his Grapefruit League debut until March 1 due to the catcher's heavy workload last season, Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News reports.
Wells played 129 games last season between the regular season and playoffs, so it makes sense for the Yankees to slow play the 25-year-old's entry into the spring lineup. The catcher has been taking live at-bats but has not yet swung the bat early on in camp. Given the uncertainty the Yankees have behind him on the catcher depth chart, Wells could see an even heavier workload in 2025.
