Austin

Wells

Wells broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth, sending a solo homer off Nick Martinez 414 feet into right center to give the Yankees the lead. It was the fourth homer of the season for Wells and his first in May, as the 26-year-old catcher has struggled mightily at the plate this month. Wells is slashing just .125/.208/.188 in May and is best left on fantasy benches until he can straighten things out at the plate.

Wells has been on the bench for the last two days amidst his immense struggles at the plate, but he’s back in the lineup on Tuesday. The 26-year-old is hitting .173/.292/.264 with three home runs on the season. He does have a solid 32/19 K/BB ratio in 36 games, and his hard-hit rate is at a career-high 46.8 percent, while his swinging strike rate is actually the same as last year. Wells doesn’t need to be on fantasy rosters right now, but it wouldn’t surprise us if he starts to figure things out at the plate. He might just be being a little too passive right now.

It’s a standard rest day for a catcher with a day game after a night game. It’s unfortunate that it comes after Wells had a solid performance on Tuesday night, but hopefully he can carry that over after the brief off day. J.C. Escarra will catch and bat seventh.

Wells knocked a base hit in the fifth inning, then gave the Yankees an insurance run in the seventh with a solo homer off Jalen Beeks. The 26-year-old backstop is up to three homers while slashing .200/.345/.343 with six runs and five RBI across 87 plate appearances.

Wells matched his previous season totals with one homer and two RBI tonight. The homer also gave him just his fifth run scored in 22 games. He’s batting .188/.338/.297 in 80 plate appearances.

Rice steps into the heart of New York’s loaded lineup behind Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger following last year’s 26-homer breakthrough campaign. The 27-year-old slugger’s realistic 30-homer ceiling makes him an upper-echelon fantasy catcher heading into the regular season. Here’s the full lineup set to face Giants ace Logan Webb at Oracle Park in primetime: Trent Grisham (CF), Judge (RF), Bellinger (LF), Rice (1B), Giancarlo Stanton (DH), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (2B), José Caballero (SS), Ryan McMahon (3B) and Austin Wells (C).

Caminero has been one of the driving forces behind the Dominican Republic’s relentless onslaught during the international tournament, hitting .275 (6-for-16) with two homers and six RBI through five contests. He’ll help anchor a star-studded lineup as the Dominican Republic faces Team USA ace Paul Skenes at loanDepot Park in Miami with a berth in the World Baseball Classic final at stake. Here’s the full lineup: Fernando Tatis Jr. (RF), Ketel Marte (2B), Juan Soto (LF), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B), Manny Machado (3B), Caminero (DH), Julio Rodríguez (CF), Austin Wells (C) and Geraldo Perdomo (SS).

They’ll face the winner of Venezuela versus Japan. Wells’ homer, which came as a pinch-hitter for Agustín Ramírez, was the lone one hit by the D.R. tonight, but Manny Machado and Junior Caminero both had two hits and an RBI. The club knocked out Hyun-Jin Ryu in the second and forced Korea to use five pitchers over the first three innings. After that, the score held steady at 7-0 for 3 1/2 innings until Wells ended things.

Clarke Schmidt went on the 60-day IL to open up a spot. Goldschmidt joined the Yankees as their starting first baseman last year, but he’ll mostly be asked to play against lefties this season after faring far better against them than righties last season. Ben Rice will surely lose a few at-bats as a result of the move, but it seems like Austin Wells might fare worse with Rice set to do some catching this year.

Rice is likely to come off the board as a top-five catcher in fantasy drafts this spring, but he’s rapidly becoming one of the more polarizing hitters in the entire fantasy landscape. He ranked among the league’s upper echelon in average exit velocity (95th percentile), barrel rate (92nd percentile) and hard-hit percentage (97th percentile) during last year’s 26-homer breakthrough campaign. The soon-to-be 27-year-old slugger appears poised to catch more often than originally anticipated with the Yankees bringing back veteran lefty-masher Paul Goldschmidt to handle the cold corner against southpaws. Kirshner notes that Rice, who is currently viewed as the club’s third backstop, could potentially move into the backup catcher role behind starter Austin Wells in addition to serving as their primary first baseman against right-handed pitching to free up a roster spot for someone like Jasson Domínguez. The added playing time opportunity comes paired with the inherent injury risk that has always followed catchers behind the plate.