Yankees' Austin Wells has to provide more in one key area

The New York Yankees have been headlined by their masterful pitching in 2026. Everyone in that position group is excelling, and you can give catcher Austin Wells a good chunk of the credit there. 

But this team is still behind the Tampa Bay Rays by a game and a half in the American League East. Now that the calendar has flipped to June, time is going to speed up rather quickly here for the Yankees.

Right now, they are going to need more than expert pitch-calling from Wells, as he has really struggled at the plate this season.

Bill Ladson wrote for MLB.com and described the need for Wells to improve, and he is 100% right. If the Yankees want to stay in the hunt for the playoffs and not spoil this amazing pitching performance on a team level, they need Wells to get hot. 

This season, No. 28 is batting an abysmal .178 from the dish, and his OPS of .570 is the worst for any Yankees batter that has played over 40 games thus far. This has to be a talking point going forward, as if he can turn things around now, the AL East becomes more attainable. 

If not, and Wells is not able to put together a solid June, there is a chance the Yankees could be buyers at the trade deadline for a new catcher. And that comes regardless of how well he has been calling pitches. 

Well's improvement at the plate is going to be the one thing that sets the Yankees up for a deep run in the postseason, and that has to start now, more than later. 

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