NEW YORK – Two weeks ago, Austin Wells described his performance as “terrible,” expressing frustration with underwhelming results as the Yankees’ starting catcher. He may now have an explanation.
Wells was placed on the 10-day injured list on Saturday after being diagnosed with cervical headaches. In a corresponding move, the Yankees recalled catcher J.C. Escarra from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Escarra had been optioned to the Minors after Friday’s 5-3 loss to the Red Sox, with Ali Sánchez promoted to the Majors. The Yankees have thus had a wholesale revamp of their catching situation within the past 24 hours, prompting more questions than answers.
Wells was slashing .166/.278/.255 with four home runs and seven RBIs through 47 games. He slashed .219/.275/.436 with 21 homers and 71 RBIs in 126 games last year.
Sánchez said he was “a little surprised” when word of his big league promotion filtered through the dugout on Friday evening, about halfway through his Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders’ combined no-hitter of the Syracuse Mets.
“They told me to leave quietly,” Sánchez said on Saturday at Yankee Stadium. “But the boys, when they saw me picking up everything, packing everything up – they got a little excited, too.”
Sánchez, 29, was in the lineup on Saturday to catch Will Warren, facing left-hander Ranger Suarez.
Before Wells’ diagnosis was announced, manager Aaron Boone seemed to be planning on a split between Wells and Sánchez, calling it a “day-by-day” decision and saying that he planned to give Wells some days off against left-handed pitchers.
That could now be the case with Escarra and Sánchez, unless the Yankees reverse course and return Ben Rice to a catching role. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Friday that was something the team would “kick around down the line.”
Though Rice caught 36 games in the Majors last season (26 starts), Boone said the Yankees are thinking of him more as a first baseman, in part to protect his offense – including a team-leading 18 homers entering play on Saturday. Boone said he felt Rice was physically taxed by catching bullpens this spring, and the team has aimed to simplify his workload.
Rice has continued to participate in pitching meetings as a third catcher.
“It doesn’t mean we won’t get to that point,” Boone said, “but it’s not on the board right now.”
Entering Saturday, the Yankees ranked 28th in the Majors in catchers’ OPS (.527), 29th in batting average (.171), 25th in on-base percentage (.268) and 28th in slugging percentage (.259).
Boone described Sánchez as having “a great reputation as a defensive catcher.” He has batted .183 (22-for-120) across parts of four Major League seasons, including brief stints with the Blue Jays and Red Sox last year.
At Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Sánchez was batting .227 (29-for-128) with six home runs and 11 RBIs in 40 games.
“Hopefully, Ali can come up here and provide a little bit of a spark,” Boone said.
On Friday, Cashman was asked whether he was open to a hypothetical scenario in which Rice would return to catching to keep first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup.
Stanton hit live batting practice on Saturday against right-hander Angel Chivilli and is likely two to three weeks away from returning to the Majors as he enters a second week of running drills.
“Rice has been fantastic,” Cashman said. “He’s certainly capable of going behind the plate. But I guess it’s something we’ll kick around down the line. It’s not something that’s on the radar right now. So we like it the way it is currently [with Rice at first base].
“Once the party gets bigger and you have more players to play with, some of these conversations [are ones] we’ll have.”