{"id":730146,"date":"2026-06-19T15:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T15:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/730146\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T15:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T15:45:12","slug":"yankees-hoping-to-add-right-handed-hitting-catcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/730146\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees Hoping To Add Right-Handed-Hitting Catcher"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Yankees have gotten a disappointing season out of catcher Austin Wells<\/a> so far, and his struggles have the team interested in bringing in some catching help. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic reports<\/a> that the Yanks would prefer to add a right-handed bat behind the plate and specifically lists Minnesota\u2019s Ryan Jeffers<\/a> as a potential target. Jeffers knows Yankees director of catching Tanner Swanson quite well from Swanson\u2019s days as the Twins\u2019 catching coordinator from 2017-19.<\/p>\n

Jeffers got out to a monster start this season \u2014 .295\/.408\/.541, seven homers, equal walk and strikeout rates (15.6%) \u2014 but suffered a fractured hamate last month that required surgery. He\u2019ll be sidelined into July.<\/p>\n

The arrows on Jeffers are all trending up this season, but he\u2019s quietly been one of the game\u2019s best-hitting catchers dating back to 2023. Over his past 1411 major league plate appearances, Jeffers touts a .258\/.346\/.445 batting line (121 wRC+). The former second-rounder out of UNC Wilmington ranks eighth among qualified catchers in batting average, sixth in on-base percentage and sixth in slugging percentage in that time. Jeffers swatted a career-high 21 homers back in 2024 and was on pace to trounce that mark this season.<\/p>\n

Despite the Swanson\/Jeffers connection, it should be noted that Jeffers is just one of several options GM Brian Cashman & Co. could consider. It\u2019s not even a foregone conclusion that Jeffers will be moved.\u00a0 The Twins have been expected to function as sellers all season and likely still will, but they\u2019re at 36-40 after four straight wins and currently sit just 1.5 games back in the wide-open AL Wild Card hunt. Jeffers is an impending free agent and arguably their most likely trade chip if they do sell, but between their recent play and the 29-year-old catcher\u2019s current injury, a deal in the near future seems quite unlikely. He\u2019s making $6.7MM this season, and the Yankees would have to pay a 110% tax on the remainder of that contract due to their luxury-tax status.<\/p>\n

Whether Jeffers or someone else,\u00a0some form of catching upgrade would be prudent for the Yankees, whose backstops have combined for an awful .181\/.271\/.270 slash this season. The resulting 53 wRC+ indicates that Yankees catchers have been 47% worse than average at the plate, ranking them ahead of only the White Sox (who\u2019ve been without starter Kyle Teel<\/a> all season due to injury) and the Phillies.<\/p>\n

Wells, currently on the injured list due to recurring cervical headaches, has been the primary culprit. After slashing .224\/.294\/.423 from 2023-25, he\u2019s faceplanted with a .166\/.278\/.255 slash and career-worst 26.6% strikeout rate in 169 plate appearances this season. It\u2019s plenty feasible that the ongoing neck\/headache issues have dampened his production, but Wells\u2019 struggles \u2014 and those of backups J.C. Escarra<\/a> and Ali Sanchez<\/a> \u2014 have been so pronounced that they leave the Yankees with little choice but to pursue an upgrade.<\/p>\n

If not Jeffers, there are other righty-swinging backstops who\u2019ll likely be available. Minnesota could conceivably make switch-hitting catcher Victor Caratini<\/a>, whom they signed to a two-year $14MM deal this winter, available if they sell. The Red Sox are open to moving Connor Wong<\/a>, though trade talks between the two parties are always complicated by their archrival status. Switch-hitting A\u2019s backup Jonah Heim<\/a> is a free agent at season\u2019s end and would surely be available if they end up selling off some short-term pieces (though they\u2019re currently in both the AL West and Wild Card races). The Rangers could be amenable to parting with old friend Kyle Higashioka<\/a>\u00a0(also an impending free agent), and the Rockies could have one of the more intriguing controllable trade chips on the market if they make slugging catcher Hunter Goodman<\/a> (arb-eligible through 2029) available to other teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Yankees have gotten a disappointing season out of catcher Austin Wells so far, and his struggles have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[1217,5,1252],"class_list":["post-730146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-austin-wells","tag-baseball","tag-ryan-jeffers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116777551361998348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}