Austin Wells Making Yankees’ Trade Deadline Miss Look Like a Win

Austin Wells has been contributing to the New York Yankees lineup — somewhat — and it looks like they avoided another Joey Gallo situation.

On paper, an Adley Rutschman trade looked good for the New York Yankees, but the team looks smart for sticking with Austin Wells. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Adley Rutschman looked as if he was headed to the New York Yankees on the eve of the trade deadline. All the smoke had him pegged as Bronx-bound, but those reports ended up being nothing more than gossip because the Boston Red Sox swooped in, offering the Baltimore Orioles a massive package that included their number one, seven, and eight prospects, and four young players in total.

It was clear the Yankees weren't going to match that. Even if they offered up their respective one, seven, and eight prospects, it might not match the total value Boston offered, and they might have had to dole out more pieces from their farm system. Instead, Brian Cashman punted on the position altogether, leaving them with Austin Wells and later grabbing Mitch Garver from free agency and signing him to a minor-league deal.

At the time, the Red Sox were rolling. Boston looked like they were going to crash through the Yankees in the standings, and on top of that, they took their rival's top target at the deadline. What is most unfortunate for Boston, though, is that games aren't played on paper.

In fact, despite Wells playing poorly throughout the year, he has actually outperformed Rutschman since the deadline. Had Cashman acquired Rutschman, he would have joined the slew of inadequate backstops this year. Craig Breslow's folly is nothing but cause for celebration in New York — at least on the Bronx side of things.

Wells vs. Rutschman

Since being activated on August 11th, Rutschman is slashing .170/.254/.245 with a 41 wRC+. He has one home run and four RBI. On top of that, his underlying metrics don't give Boston any reason to think he's just a good player going through it at the plate.

He has an 85 MPH average exit velocity, which is 3.7 MPH below his normal average. That goes along with a 5.3% barrel rate and a 34.2% hard-hit rate.

Austin Wells crushed two homers in the 8th inning!

He’s the first player in MLB history to enter a game as a pinch-hitter and then hit multiple home runs in a single inning.

H/T @OptaSTATS pic.twitter.com/3Qp7dkTUOz

— MLB (@MLB) August 30, 2026

Meanwhile, Wells has been a slightly below-average hitter since Rutschman's activation on August 11th— boosting him to a lowly 67 wRC+ — but at this point, the Yankees will take his .229/.296/.396 with a 93 wRC+ during that same span if it means they didn't have to give up prospects. Plus, Wells has been one of the better defensive catchers in the league, and that alone, coupled with him flirting with a league-average bat, brings a ton of value.

If you go back a little further to when the All-Star break concluded, those numbers look a little better. During that span, Wells is slashing .250/.343/.443 with a 122 wRC+.

The Yankees won't do cartwheels over a player hitting to a 93 wRC+ across 50 plate appearances, but they went through a similar situation with Joey Gallo. They traded a trove of prospects for him, believing the big lefty would solve their offensive woes. Instead, it may have just been better to trot out Brett Gardner in his last hurrah for the remainder of the 2021 season.

Boston Red Sox catcher Adley Rutschman (right) hasn't been impactful at the plate since being activated from the IL. In fact, his numbers are similar to Austin Wells's. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Rutschman could easily have been another Gallo for the Yankees. Instead, if he doesn't turn it around, he could be that for the Red Sox.

The Orioles may have committed highway robbery, all because Boston wanted to take one from the Yankees. The result was Boston acquiring a bad player and still not lapping the Yankees in the standings.

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