2025 Fantasy Baseball: Austin Wells Profile, Preview, Predictions
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Austin Wells's bat took a while to get rolling in his rookie season with the New York Yankees. He finished the year being much more comfortable at the plate, which should lead to exciting success in 2025.
See ya 👋
— MLB (@MLB) August 31, 2024
Austin Wells with home run No. 2 of the night! pic.twitter.com/88Qtqhada9
C – Austin Wells, NYY (ADP – 198.3)
The Yankees drafted Wells 28th overall in the 2020 MLB June Amateur Draft. Over three seasons in the minors, he hit .260 with 188 runs, 53 home runs, 213 RBIs, and 39 stolen bases over 1,089 at-bats, giving him a future 20/20 profile for a catcher.
Wells saw time at A, AA, AAA, and the majors in 2023. His best production came at AA (.237/28/11/50/5 over 228 at-bats). With New York, his power (four home runs and 13 RBIs over 70 at-bats) translated well.
Last year, Wells was an attractive C2 option in deep formats. Unfortunately, fantasy managers scoured the waiver wire by the second week of June due to his empty stats over his first 110 at-bats (.200/13/1/7/1). As his hit tool improved, the Yankees gave him more playing time over their final 105 games (.242/29/12/48 over 244 at-bats). Wells struggled against lefties (.197 with three runs, no home runs, and 12 RBIs over 66 at-bats). His strikeout rate (21.0) and walk rate (11.4) graded well. He had a fly-ball swing path (43.3) with no defining edge in his exit velocity (88.4 mph) or hard-hit rate (38.9).
Fantasy Outlook: New York's catching depth suggests Wells will have a much better opportunity this year. He ranked 18th last year by FPGscore (-5.60) while failing to meet expectations in steals (1). The Yankees will hit him down in their batting order, lowering his chances in runs and RBIs. His natural progression should push Wells over 20 home runs with an excellent chance at double-digit stolen bases. Depending on my team build, Wells is a player I will follow in drafts to see where I can buy him at a fair price. I will rank him as one of the top 10 catchers after writing about the first 15 catching options.
RANKINGS
Top 5 Catchers | Catchers 6-10 | Catchers 11-15
Top 5 First Basemen | First Basemen 6-10 | First Basemen 11-15
Top 5 Second Basemen | Second Basemen 6-10 | Second Basemen 11-15
Top 5 Shortstops | Shortstops 6-10 | Shortstops 11-15
Top 5 Third Basemen | Third Basemen 6-10 | Third Basemen 11-15
With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.
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