The Yankees have gotten a disappointing season out of catcher Austin Wells so far, and his struggles have the team interested in bringing in some catching help. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic reports that the Yanks would prefer to add a right-handed bat behind the plate and specifically lists Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers as a potential target. Jeffers knows Yankees director of catching Tanner Swanson quite well from Swanson’s days as the Twins’ catching coordinator from 2017-19.
Jeffers got out to a monster start this season — .295/.408/.541, seven homers, equal walk and strikeout rates (15.6%) — but suffered a fractured hamate last month that required surgery. He’ll be sidelined into July.
The arrows on Jeffers are all trending up this season, but he’s quietly been one of the game’s 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.
Despite the Swanson/Jeffers connection, it should be noted that Jeffers is just one of several options GM Brian Cashman & Co. could consider. It’s not even a foregone conclusion that Jeffers will be moved. The Twins have been expected to function as sellers all season and likely still will, but they’re 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’s current injury, a deal in the near future seems quite unlikely. He’s 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.
Whether Jeffers or someone else, some 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’ve been without starter Kyle Teel all season due to injury) and the Phillies.
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’s faceplanted with a .166/.278/.255 slash and career-worst 26.6% strikeout rate in 169 plate appearances this season. It’s plenty feasible that the ongoing neck/headache issues have dampened his production, but Wells’ struggles — and those of backups J.C. Escarra and Ali Sanchez — have been so pronounced that they leave the Yankees with little choice but to pursue an upgrade.
If not Jeffers, there are other righty-swinging backstops who’ll likely be available. Minnesota could conceivably make switch-hitting catcher Victor Caratini, whom they signed to a two-year $14MM deal this winter, available if they sell. The Red Sox are open to moving Connor Wong, though trade talks between the two parties are always complicated by their archrival status. Switch-hitting A’s backup Jonah Heim is a free agent at season’s end and would surely be available if they end up selling off some short-term pieces (though they’re currently in both the AL West and Wild Card races). The Rangers could be amenable to parting with old friend Kyle Higashioka (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 (arb-eligible through 2029) available to other teams.
