Coming into the season, Austin Wells had a .224 career batting average and a .717 OPS. He had never been an elite producer at the plate, but posted 20 homers last season and was good enough for the Yankees to stick with him.
However, he was having an awful season through June. In his first 56 games, he had a .155/.255/.238 slash line and just four home runs. The Yankees reportedly tried trading for a catcher, but were unable to land one. Wells has lost at-bats and starts to Ali Sánchez lately, but he has turned his awful season around.
Since July 1, Wells is slashing .238/.314/.426. He has a .740 OPS and six home runs. He is never going to be a guy who hits for a high average, but his .740 OPS is a big boost for the Yankees. He is producing for an offense that is without Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, and his contributions are not going unnoticed. On Wednesday night, he gave the Yankees the lead in extra innings with a two-out, two-RBI single.
“You feel like he’s that threat again down there. That’s massive,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, per The Athletic's Chris Kirschner.
“Especially as you get other people back in the mix, one of the things that’s plagued us at times this year when we’ve gone through some struggles offensively is just not having that length and too many easy innings in the nine (spot). Hopefully, as we get more guys back, more guys starting to swing it and get going, that can change, and we can become the offense we believe we can be.”
Wells reportedly spent time with Yankees hitting coordinator Jarret DeHart, and worked on his swing. A big change he made was hitting the ball more out in front of the plate.
“I’m always trying to get extended with where I’m receiving the ball,” Wells said, per Kirschner. “I’m already super close to the catcher. Any time I can make the ball look like a strike close to the zone, more times than not it’s going to benefit us.”
Wells is hitting .260 with a .783 OPS since the All-Star Break. If he can maintain this level of success, the Yankees will be in great shape when Judge is back.