Austin Wells had a rough season at the plate in 2026, which led to many fans calling for his job, and urging the team to acquire a new catcher.
Yankees fans/insiders/analysts are still urging for an Austin Wells replacement, but reports suggest that he will be the team’s starting backstop in 2027.
However, what fans don’t always understand is that sometimes the players go through things during the season that could cause a lack of performance.
Well, for Austin Wells, he made the admission that a series of headaches derailed the first half of his 2026 season, and the numbers certainly suggest that the head injury could have been the root cause of his drastic struggles.
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Austin Wells Opens Up on Scary Head Injuries During 2026 Season
If you remember correctly, Austin Wells had to be placed on the IL for ‘cervical headaches’ during the season, and it was traced back to a foul tip off his facemask against the Boston Red Sox, which left him visibly shaken up.
Per New York Yankees’ Brendan Kuty, here is some of what Wells said about his headaches:
“I believe that the culmination of multiple blows to the head definitely had something going on. Obviously, the headaches, the pressure that I felt in my head — it is what it is.”
Kuty also notes that Wells’ struggles through the early part of June were among the worst in MLB:
“For the first three months of the season, Wells was one of the worst hitters in MLB. Among the 230 hitters with at least 150 plate appearances through June 6, Wells’ 53 wRC+ was No. 222. He hit just .166 with only four home runs and 15 RBIs.”
“I think you look at the sample of two months there and say, ‘That wasn’t me. That wasn’t who I am,’” Wells said.
CBSSports.com’s RotoWire staff outlined the timeline of Austin Wells’ head injuries:
“Wells took a foul tip to the mask April 23 and another one two weeks after that. While he was able to pass concussion testing, the catcher had symptoms and eventually landed on the 10-day injured list in early June with cervical headaches. Wells felt healthy after returning and had a .787 OPS with eight home runs after the All-Star break (as compared to a .504 OPS and six home runs in the first half). The 27-year-old is currently slated to open the 2027 campaign as the Yankees’ top catcher, though it’s possible the team seeks help from outside the organization.”
So, perhaps Yankees fans were too hard on Wells, and if you don’t agree with that, I’m not sure any ‘average’ American fan would be able to endure what Wells did behind the plate, especially because he was pretty much the everyday catcher for the Yanks in 2026.
It’s hard to imagine that Austin Wells will suddenly be able to hit left-handed pitchers, but perhaps the headaches really did have a profound impact on his season, and considering the very successful 2025 campaign he had, the 2026 stats just never seemed to make sense.
In 2026, Austin Wells batted .186 with 14 home runs, 32 RBI, and 62 hits over 122 games played.
His bWAR (shockingly) was still 1.1, which is a testament to his defensive ability, but Wells’ OPS+ dropping from 93 to 74 is a drastic drop.
It’s very fair for Wells to open up on these health issues that he endured, but if he doesn’t perform much better in 2027, New York may have no choice but to get rid of him.
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