Why this Yankee can be an under-the-radar spark in October run

Before the Yankees walloped the rival Red Sox in consecutive games to sweep the American League Wild Card Series, manager Aaron Boone seemed to face a dilemma.

The Red Sox’s pitching staff was historically left-handed, and the Yankees -- without Aaron Judge -- had platoon options galore for Boone to choose from.

The Yankees had MLB’s eighth-best OPS against southpaws (.733) in the regular season, in part because Boone was aggressive with platoon advantages. He frequently protected lefties Luis García Jr., Ryan McMahon, Austin Wells, Trent Grisham and, occasionally, Jazz Chisholm Jr. from same-side pitching.

Boone did just that in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against left-handed Boston starter Payton Tolle. Each of the aforementioned players started Tuesday’s game on the bench … except for one: Wells.

The same Wells who posted just a .436 OPS against lefties in 99 plate appearances. For his three-plus-season career, Wells has only slashed .188/.254/.324 against left-handers in limited opportunities.

But the calculus behind Boone’s decision was pretty simple. With journeyman Ali Sánchez the only other catcher on the roster, the Yankees wouldn’t want to trade away Wells’ top-10 defense (via Fielding Run Value) and handling of the pitching staff just because Sánchez hits right-handed.

And then the unthinkable happened. Or, at least, the improbable.

Wells jump-started the scoring in what became a two-day romp at Yankee Stadium. He pounced on a 92.5 mph sinker from Tolle with two outs in the second inning Tuesday, driving a 102.2 mph RBI single through the right side of the infield.

“A great at-bat right out of the chute to give us the lead there,” Boone said after the Game 1 win. “[Wells] put a lot of good swings on the ball all night.”

The New York catcher finished his night 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored. He added another hit and two more RBIs in Game 2.

The thing is, Wells has been doing this for a while.

The 27-year-old was hitting just .166 with four homers, seven RBIs and a .533 OPS in 145 at-bats before he went on the injured list on June 6 with cervical headaches. He returned later that month and then really found his stride after the All-Star break.

Wells finished the second half of the season with a 124 wRC+, meaning his overall offensive production was 24% better than league average. That placed him sixth among all MLB catchers with at least 150 plate appearances in that span.

Wells used the time off in June to try to fix his swing plane, aiming to lift the ball more consistently. Sure enough, Wells launched 10 of his 14 regular-season home runs after his return from injury.

His barrel rate (the percentage of balls he hit with the perfect combination of exit velocity and launch angle) improved slightly from 6.9% pre-injury to 8.3% after. MLB average was 7.6% in 2026.

In particular, Wells was crushing fastballs as the year carried on. He had a 13.5% barrel rate and a .479 expected slugging percentage on them after his return from the IL.

“I think, just overall, I'm feeling better, seeing the ball well, and just competing up there,” Wells said Tuesday. “I mean, we're at the point in the season where [I’m] just going up there, trying to see as many pitches as I can. I got Goldy [Paul Goldschmidt] behind me. Got great hitters behind me. Get on base with them any way I can. So I wouldn't say any big adjustments, just feeling better and seeing the ball.”

Wells still didn’t hit lefties all that well in the season’s second half, outside of a small sample in August. But that’s not expected of him, at least not right now. Tuesday’s knock against Tolle was a bonus.

In fact, any offense Wells provides moving forward will be a bonus, considering he’s among the game’s best backstops in terms of framing and blocking. That’s a relatively surprising development, too, as Wells was seen as a bat-first catcher when the Yankees selected him in the first round of the 2020 Draft.

He’s also become an ace using the ABS Challenge System, ranking sixth in overturns vs. expected. His 63% success rate isn’t massive, but it’s good enough to go along with his aggressiveness. Wells tapped his head the fourth-most times of any catcher this year. That could be paramount in the postseason.

“Austin's been awesome back there. He's become just such a premium defender. The catcher presence is so important,” Boone said. “And I feel like he's become one of the elite guys back there of just being able to slow the game down, think really well, do the skill part -- blocking, receiving really well -- and just kind of having a slow heartbeat in the most crucial moments. I think those are really, really important qualities for a catcher, and Austin has those.”

The Yankee offense hummed along with no issues against the Red Sox this week, even without Judge in the lineup. Getting contributions from up and down the order is a key reason why. That includes Wells, whose upward trajectory has steadily continued as the calendar winds down.

That the Rays’ staff is significantly more right-handed than the Red Sox’s additionally bodes well for Wells, who seems to be turning into quite an October X-factor ahead of the ALDS.