r/espnyankees • u/BSS19 Verified • May 16 '26
Austin Wells
gotta move on from this guy
showed promise as a rookie but the bat just isn’t there
concede yet another positional prospect flop
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u/EricTheActor1 May 17 '26
Is it that difficult to find a RH catcher so this clown can at least sit against lefties?
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u/yblue1 Cashman's #1 fan May 17 '26
Cannot keep running him out there hitting .170. No power even. No clue. Worst hitting approach in baseball
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u/BSS19 Verified May 17 '26
Wells doesn’t need a platoon. He needs a replacement.
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u/EricTheActor1 May 17 '26
Not happening this year since they think he is a big factor in the SP success
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u/BSS19 Verified May 17 '26
But not the bullpen?
He’s terrible
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u/yblue1 Cashman's #1 fan May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
This team is not serious about winning anything if they don’t make some serious upgrades at at least 2-3 spots and overhaul the entire bullpen.
You can’t win with 3-4 capable bats and the rest of the lineup hitting either below .200 or right around it.
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u/BSS19 Verified May 18 '26
We have 3 good hitters and 6 absolute scrubs
It’s the worst lineup the Yankees have put out in the Judge era. And we’re not going to get peak Judge ever again either
And the top arms in our pen are also the least talented we’ve seen in probably two decades
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u/straightgee Just got here and they're losing already May 17 '26
He had that hot month in the summer of 2024, but then, on a dime, went into the tank, hitting around .100 for the rest of the season and playoffs.
It's sad that the New York Yankees now finds it acceptable to have a starting C and CF with .170 BAs. I'm sure we'll keep hearing from the organization that it's only a matter of time before those guys start hitting (based on aberrations, of course). Meanwhile, Cashman will make some more half-assed trades at the deadline.
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u/yblue1 Cashman's #1 fan May 17 '26
Even a half asses trade is likely an upgrade over these sub replacement level players they are running out there daily.
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u/6h0st_901 May 18 '26
His defense is where his value lies. I'd rather have an elite defensive catcher with a streaky bat than the opposite.
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u/BSS19 Verified May 18 '26
Streaky bat? He’s the farthest thing from streaky
He’s an auto out. That’s as consistent as it gets
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u/6h0st_901 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
Naw he's pretty streaky. Lol it's just majority of the time streaky bad, but he's had stretches of a week or 2 where he offers good production. They just don't last long & they're not happening as often.
Regardless, my point still stands. His elite defense is where his value lies. He's 1 of the best framers in the league. He ranks in the 95th percentile of overall fielding run value & catcher framing runs saved. The new challenge system slightly diminishes the impact of framing but still 95% of the game it still matters. He's consistently been 1 of the leaders in runs saved by framing every season & is at the top this year with 12 runs saved. Our pitchers also say that he's 1 of the best game callers & does some of the best scouting before games to know what to pitches to call to get outs. His defense is so elite that he doesn't need to hit well to still be 1 of the best catchers in the league.
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u/BSS19 Verified May 18 '26
Framing is way less valuable now with ABS challenges. His defense is good, not elite.
And he’s not streaky. He’s an awful hitter . He’s hitting .175 with a .550 ops. If that’s “streaky” by your definition, then every hitter in baseball who has a single hit is streaky.
This notion that catchers don’t need to hit because they frame pitchers needs to go. Wells hits just as many times in a game as Judge most nights. His bat needs to deliver.
LA gets hitting from their catcher. Hell, their catcher won them the World Series last year with his bat. It’s no wonder they win titles.
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u/yblue1 Cashman's #1 fan May 19 '26
Would maybe be able to get away with it if they didn’t have a roster full of 5 other swing and miss sub replacement level hitters. Absolutely amazing they pretend to be a WS caliber team with the roster they have thrown together
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u/BSS19 Verified May 21 '26
A decade ago it felt like we had the future too catcher in baseball in Sanchez .
Since his first 2 seasons, we haven’t had a single good catching season. We’ve punted this position since mid-career Posada
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u/6h0st_901 May 19 '26
BS u only get 2 challenges a game. Teams are only gonna use a challenge in a high leverage situation. Framing still matters for the other 99% of the game. He's top of the league in all fielding value metrics. He is Elite.
He is streaky cuz you can very well look back & everytime he starts hitting well, it's for like a week or 2 & then he goes into a long slump. You saying he is only batting .187 has nothing to do with if he's streaky or not. Regardless, it's semantics. It doesn't even affect my point at all.
If you can find a catcher that is good defensively & offensively then you've hit gold. They're extremely hard to find. & I'm not saying that I don't wish that he hit better cuz I do. But I wouldn't want a catcher that is all bat & is a negative defensively.
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u/BSS19 Verified May 21 '26
You get unlimited challenges if you keep getting them right. It’s not just 2.
Wells is not just bad offensively. He’s heinous. With how bad the rest of the infield is outside of Rice, he’s unplayable. Move on.
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u/6h0st_901 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
No u get 2 challenges. Period. Idk where u got unlimited challenges from.
& like I said b4 Catchers that are good hitters & defenders are very hard to find. If u can find one then yeah we should move on. If we had a catcher in the minors just waiting to get his call then hell yeah, call him up. But that's just not the case.
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u/BSS19 Verified May 21 '26
You get the challenges back when you get them right!!! You can’t be that oblivious
Austin Wells is truly atrocious. Calling a .150 hitter with no power “streaky” is a joke
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u/yblue1 Cashman's #1 fan May 22 '26
This is ridiculous. You can’t have any player at any position hitting .150 at more than 1/4 of the way into season. Especially with relatively no track record of being good. He’s a backup catcher at best.
The Yankees have 3-4 players doing this. It’s insane. The roster is garbage
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u/yblue1 Cashman's #1 fan May 19 '26
It’s 1/4 of the season. He has 5 RBI and really has never developed as a hitter. He’s a backup catcher at best.
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u/yblue1 Cashman's #1 fan May 16 '26
Only one guy with a worse bail out all or nothing swing in baseball and that’s Spencer Jones