{"id":883263,"date":"2026-06-21T18:55:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T18:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/883263\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T18:55:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T18:55:23","slug":"yankees-activate-austin-wells-gerrit-cole-feels-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/883263\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees activate Austin Wells; Gerrit Cole feels ‘good’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Yankees<\/a> got their primary backstop back on Sunday, as they activated catcher Austin Wells<\/a> following a two-week stint on the injured list due to cervical headaches.<\/p>\n

J.C. Escarra went down to Triple-A Scranton\/Wilkes-Barre to make room on the roster.<\/p>\n

Wells was the starting catcher and batting eighth for Sunday afternoon\u2019s series finale against the Cincinnati Reds in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

The headaches added to a challenging start to the season for Wells, who was hitting .166, four home runs and a .533 OPS when he landed on the IL on June 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully it\u2019s a good reset and can get him in a good place,\u201d manager Aaron Boone said of Wells\u2019 time away. \u201cBecause obviously, when he\u2019s right offensively, he can really be an important contributor for us, especially having a presence at the bottom of the lineup. We need to get him there, and hopefully this is something that will help him get settled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wells, 26, was mired in a 1-for-18 slump when he went on the IL.<\/p>\n

Last week, the lefty-swinging Wells went 2-for-12 with two home runs and two walks over a three-game rehab assignment at Triple-A.<\/p>\n

Optioning the lefty-hitting Escarra to Triple-A while keeping righty-swinging catcher Ali S\u00e1nchez in the majors allows the Yankees platoon flexibility at the position.<\/p>\n

Boone noted the Yankees are about to face \u201ca ton\u201d of left-handed pitchers, with Framber Valdez and Tarik Skubal lined up to start against them in their upcoming three-game series in Detroit.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez, a five-year MLB veteran playing for his sixth team, entered Sunday with five hits in 16 at-bats (.313) and two RBI since debuting with the Yankees this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s held his own offensively. He\u2019s gotten some key hits for us in some spots, which has been a nice bonus,\u201d Boone said of the 29-year-old S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I really feel like he\u2019s handled himself well behind the plate. He\u2019s got a good presence to him. He\u2019s a smart guy, and that shows. He\u2019s not overwhelmed by being here and being [with] some alpha-dog pitchers, too. I feel like he\u2019s settled in here kind of quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Escarra, 31, has batted .188 without a homer and a .510 OPS in 85 at-bats in the majors in 2026.<\/p>\n

Boone believes Escarra can benefit from more regular playing time at Triple-A, though the catcher is expected to return to the majors in the near future \u2014 at least briefly.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because S\u00e1nchez is due to land on the paternity list soon, according to Boone.<\/p>\n

COLE COOL WITH PLAN<\/p>\n

Gerrit Cole signed off on the Yankees\u2019 plan to push his next start \u2014 and the full rotation \u2014 back by a day<\/a> amid a stretch of 16 consecutive games without an off-day.<\/p>\n

Cole was originally lined up to start Sunday on regular rest, but the Yankees announced Saturday that they would call up top prospect Elmer Rodr\u00edguez to start the finale against the Reds instead.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old Cole is now set to start Monday night in Detroit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a real process-oriented decision,\u201d Cole said Sunday.<\/p>\n

The decision, Boone said, wasn\u2019t just about giving extra rest to Cole, who returned last month after a 14-month recovery from Tommy John surgery. Carlos Rod\u00f3n also missed the first six weeks of the season after undergoing a less serious elbow operation in October.<\/p>\n

Boone does not expect the Yankees, whose next off-day is July 2, to stick with a six-man rotation after Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m good,\u201d said Cole, who is 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA in five starts. \u201cI was ready to go today.\u201d<\/p>\n

GOOD GRISHAM NEWS<\/p>\n

Trent Grisham is \u201cmoving well\u201d a little over a week after he suffered a right hamstring strain, Boone said.<\/p>\n

The center fielder, who is hitting .232 with eight home runs and a .747 OPS, has been on the IL since June 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally encouraged by how well he\u2019s doing at this point,\u201d Boone said. \u201cMaybe even a little surprising that he\u2019s moving as well as he is. That\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Yankees got their primary backstop back on Sunday, as they activated catcher Austin Wells following a two-week…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":883264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[347508,5229,62560,46398,39146,1266,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,10596,52282,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,2386],"class_list":["post-883263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-ali-sanchez","tag-america","tag-austin-wells","tag-gerrit-cole","tag-j-c-escarra","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-reds","tag-trent-grisham","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-yankees"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116789623316878179","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}