The Yankees changed their Yankees schedule on Saturday night by placing Austin Wells on the 10-day injured list with cervical headaches and replacing him with J.C. Escarra just before they were set to face the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The move took the 26-year-old catcher off the active roster at a time when the Yankees were already shuffling behind the plate.
It also came on a night when the first pitch was expected to be delayed by incoming rain, adding another wrinkle to a game day that was already shifting around. Wells had been the Yankees' everyday catcher, but his production had fallen off badly enough that his workload had already started to change.
Wells had a 54 wRC+ and was the worst hitter on the Yankees by a wide margin among players with at least 100 plate appearances. Through 47 games, he was hitting.166 with a.278 on-base percentage, four home runs, seven RBIs and 45 strikeouts in 169 plate appearances. Before the injury move, Aaron Boone had said he expected to give Wells more off days soon against left-handed pitchers because he had struggled so much against them this season.
That is what made Boone's pregame news conference noteworthy. He did not mention Wells' headache issues before the Yankees announced the injured-list move shortly afterward, even though the catcher was clearly headed for another step back in his role. The timing suggested the club had already decided on the change by the time Boone spoke, even if the reason was not yet made public in that setting.
The Yankees had already been moving pieces at catcher. After Friday's loss to Boston, they demoted Escarra and replaced him with Ali Sánchez early Saturday, and then turned to him again when Wells went down. Escarra, 31, had posted a 38 wRC+ in 68 plate appearances and was hitting.177 with no home runs, seven RBIs and 15 strikeouts.
Sánchez, 29, had not played in the majors this season before the call-up. He had a.702 OPS in 40 games at Triple A, and Boone said the Yankees view him as a strong defender. He also said the club liked that Sánchez finally gives them a right-handed bat at catcher, though that was not the main reason for the promotion.
For now, the Yankees are left with a catching picture that changed twice in the span of one day and a starter whose return date is not clear. Wells is out for at least 10 days, and the Yankees will have to keep adjusting around a position that has become a problem at the worst possible moment.
