ANAHEIM, Calif. - Austin Wells spent the first three months of the season hearing a brutal message every time he walked to the plate. A video board in his line of sight kept reminding him how “terrible” he was.
The numbers backed it up. Wells was historically bad, so poor that the Yankees looked like a team headed for a catcher upgrade at the deadline.
They spent time in trade talks with the Baltimore Orioles on Adley Rutschman before he was dealt to the Boston Red Sox, but New York ended up standing pat behind the plate. At the time, that looked risky.
Now it looks a lot smarter, especially with Rutschman struggling in Boston.
Wells gave that decision a major boost Wednesday night. His two-run single in the 10th inning helped lift the Yankees to a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels, a result that could carry real weight in the American League East race.
After the Yankees loaded the bases with one out, Luis García Jr. popped up in the infield. Statcast had the Angels at a 61 percent win probability in that moment.
Once Wells came through, that number flipped to nearly 83 percent in New York’s favor.
The Yankees are now 3 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the AL East and the bye to the Division Series.
A couple of months ago, this kind of swing from Wells would have felt almost impossible.
“Definitely the worst stretch I’ve had, ever, probably in my life,” Wells said.
By the end of June, he was sitting on a 40 wRC+, which means he had been 60 percent worse than the average MLB hitter. He was tracking toward one of the ugliest seasons in MLB history by wRC+. Then came an injured list stint tied to cervical headaches, and that may have helped change the direction of his year.
Wells worked with Yankees hitting coordinator Jarret DeHart during that time, and the two dug into his swing mechanics and the pitches he was missing. They also shifted his approach so he could get to the ball earlier, out in front of the plate more often.
In March and April, Wells’ average intercept point was minus-1.1 inches, which means his contact was coming more than an inch past the front edge of home plate. In July, that number jumped to 3.5 inches, and in August it was 3.2 inches.
In plain terms, Wells is seeing the ball better.
“I’m always trying to get extended with where I’m receiving the ball,” Wells said of his hitting approach. “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.”
That adjustment has brought a few other changes with it. Over the past two months, Wells has subconsciously closed off his stance, which he said shows he’s doing a better job of staying on the baseball instead of pulling off and either missing badly or rolling over pitches into groundballs.
Since the All-Star break, he entered Wednesday with a 115 wRC+. That kind of production from the bottom of the order can change a lineup’s shape in a hurry, and Aaron Boone said the Yankees are feeling that already.
“You feel like he’s that threat again down there. That’s massive,” Boone said.
“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.”
That No. 9 spot has been a dead zone for most of the year. The Yankees have gotten the worst production from their No. 9 hitters by wRC+ in the majors, and Wells along with Ali Sánchez has left them playing more like an eight-man lineup at times.
Now Wells’ turnaround is arriving at a moment when the Yankees need it. Aaron Judge, sidelined with a fractured first right rib, could return as soon as next week. If that happens, and Wells keeps hitting like this, the lineup suddenly looks dangerous from top to bottom again.
Wells knows the season-long numbers won’t be pretty no matter how he finishes. He understands that. But he also knows he has spent more than a month feeling like a different hitter.
“In the game of baseball, you have to be a little delusional,” Wells said.
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