Yankees Should Challenge Austin Wells With Controversial Former Player

The New York Yankees were supposed to have a three-headed monster when they acquired Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins, a year after Big G won National League MVP. The dream of Aaron Judge and Stanton in the lineup every day was supposed to strike fear into the hearts of starters and relievers alike, and right behind them was Gary Sánchez, who emerged as one of the top catchers in baseball. To some, Sánchez was the best pure hitter of the trio.

Unfortunately, Sánchez fell off a cliff in 2018, after a stellar 2017, which saw a rebuilding Yankees team reach game seven of the ALCS against the Astros, who may or may not have been up to some shady business then. He had a good year in 2019 and got off to a good start in 2021, but was never quite the same and was eventually traded to the Minnesota Twins for the wildly unpopular Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Josh Donaldson deal.

Oct 17, 2019; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez (24) talks to Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka (19) on the mound during the third inning against the Houston Astros in game four of the 2019 ALCS playoff baseball series at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

In seven years with the Yankees, he hit .230/.318/.487 with 138 home runs. His production has not been great after that. Since 2022, he has played for the Twins, Orioles, Padres, and Mets, hitting .214/.291/.412 with 51 home runs. He has a slightly below-average 96 OPS+ and has since been relegated to a backup role.

There's a chance the Yankees will be in the market for a backup, since JC Escarra has been linked to trade rumors going all the way back to last year's deadline. If that's the case, they'll need a new backstop, preferably a right-handed one. Sánchez could be an interesting move for a few reasons.

Sánchez vs. Wells

The thing about finding a proper backup is that they should also consider how underwhelming Austin Wells turned out to be in the 2025 season. A good backup should not only take reps in the prototypical day-game-after-night-game situation, but also challenge Wells, making him feel like he could be replaced at any moment, as the team did with him last summer when Ben Rice got reps at catcher.

It doesn't look like Rice will be catching much again this year unless things go terribly wrong. A lightning rod like Sánchez, who was a topic of conversation every day on WFAN during his tenure with the Yankees, could be an interesting dynamic.

If Wells struggles, fans will be calling for the once-popular but mostly controversial Sánchez to take over and put pressure on him to get it together. It worked with Rice this year. Once Wells got his job back in late August, he took off. After a late-season series with the Tampa Bay Rays, he hit .271/.319/.553 with six homers and 15 RBI. He increased his OPS from .691 to .712 by season's end.

Using Rice to push a teammate was fine for 2025, but it isn't a play the organization should keep running. Pitting teammates against teammates in the public eye can get ugly. The Yankees laud themselves for keeping the noise out, but these guys are still human. It isn't easy to do it fully.

This is why the Sánchez idea can work. For one, the former top prospect comes with enough name recognition and history with the team, so if Wells stumbles, right behind him will be someone fans and the organization are already familiar with and will be easy to get behind.

Sánchez as a Backup

Plus, it isn't like Sánchez completely fell off the face of the earth since leaving the Yankees. Blake Snell credits him for helping him win the Cy Young Award with the Padres.

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Blake Snell and catcher Gary Sanchez — Aug 28, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Blake Snell (4) celebrates with catcher Gary Sanchez (99) after the seventh inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Also, just taking the public aspect out of this, Sánchez has a long history of catching in this market. He can easily fill in for a potentially struggling Wells for a few weeks, and then, when Sánchez most likely struggles himself, it won't be hard to take him out of the catcher position and plug Wells back in. The stakes would be high initially, but it would also be easy to offload Sánchez or cut down his playing time once he himself falls struggles.

The Yankees almost wouldn't want somebody too good, the likes of JT Realmuto, backing him up. Realmuto is in the twilight of his career, but would anybody be shocked if he took Wells' job mid-season and ran with it the rest of the way? You can't have that with a player you are pinning your future on.

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