The 2026 Major League Baseball season brought with it a new set of statistics to track.
The ABS (automated ball-strike) challenge system came into effect in MLB for this year, and the trio of batter, catcher and pitcher was all able to take part in challenging calls.
There were always going to be some guys who were better at it and some who were worse. It didn’t take long for most guys to reveal themselves as being in one of those two categories.
It also became clear that catchers were going to be the guys that, by far, challenged the most pitches during the season.
And that’s where the New York Yankees‘ catcher, Austin Wells, comes in.
Wells had a season with the bat that he’ll want to forget.
But as a challenger? He was really good.
In fact, he led the American League.
Austin Wells Leads AL in ABS
Wells had the best success rate for a catcher challenging ball-strike calls in the American League.
Of course, a catcher would just challenge a ball that he thought should be a strike.
Wells challenged 131 times. He got 82 correct.
That works out to a rate of 62.6% correct.
The next-closest in the AL was Twins catcher Victor Caratini, at 59.1%.
Wells ended up ranked fourth in the majors in the rate stat, behind the percentages of the Reds‘ Tyler Stephenson, the Rockies’ Hunter Goodman and the Marlins’ Joe Mack.
Wells also had the third-highest total of correct challenges — the Brewers‘ William Contreras led the league with 105 correct challenges, although he also had by far the most total challenges at 185 (56.8% for Contreras).
This chart shows a few of those numbers for the best in the league — with it worth noting that Wells was third in the league in successful challenges by raw total:
Austin Wells led the American League in ABS Challenge Success.
He was 3rd overall in MLB. pic.twitter.com/Y4eyLEFWVd— Yankees.Blue (@Yankees_Blue) September 28, 2026
It is interesting that more successful challenging was done in the NL as opposed to the AL, but it’s hard to have any obvious takeaways from that in just one year of the data.
What’s clear is that Wells did a good job in this catcher’s new role in 2026.
Austin Wells Stats
As far as his bat, Wells was better in the second half of the year.
Still, he finished with career-worsts in batting average (.186) and OPS (.624).
Wells ended up playing in 122 games and hitting 14 home runs, although only seven doubles. He drove in 32 runs.
The Yankees will need Wells to be at least a bit better than that if they want to rely on him some in the postseason.
Still, it’s important to remember that catcher defense is a pivotal part of the value at that position, and if Wells does well behind the plate, that helps the Yankees win games even if he’s struggling to hit the ball.
Yankees’ Austin Wells Finishes With League-Leading Feat