Catcher Austin Wells was put on the injured list due to cervical headaches

The Yankees announced on Saturday evening that catcher Austin Wells had to go on the injured list. The Yankees called up backup catcher JC Escarra, who had been demoted the day before, to fill Wells’s spot on the roster. Escarra has struggled on offense just like Wells. Wells became the second Yankee in two days to go on the injured list.

Wells was put on the injured list with cervical headaches shortly before the scheduled 7:35 game, which ended up being postponed due to heavy rain in the Bronx. The game will be made up as a split admission double header on August 29. It was not realistic to wait out the rain since there was not an opening to begin the game until 10:30 or later and then there was an afternoon game the next day on Sunday.

The Cleveland Clinic says that cervical, or cervicogenic headaches, is head pain that originates in your neck. The pain can radiate from a condition that affects your cervical spine, like an injury, arthritis or a slipped disk. Physical therapy and medications treat these headaches so you don’t have to live in pain.

This happens when you feel pain in a part of your body that’s different from the pain source. With a cervicogenic headache, the pain you feel in your head originates from the bony structures or soft tissues in your neck. It’s a type of secondary headache, which is a headache caused by an underlying condition. For example, it could be caused by a nerve impingement (pinched nerve) in your neck.

MSPhysicalTherapy adds that whiplash, car accidents or sports-related impacts can jolt the neck, prompting these headaches. Catchers receive a lot of jolts in the neck.

Wells reported neck stiffness leading to a headache to the team late Friday after the Yankees optioned Escarra and underwent exams. The concern over Wells led manager Aaron Boone to call Escarra to tell him to stay in New York on Saturday incase he was needed.

Wells then went through a series of exams, including a concussion test that was negative, with a neurologist on Saturday. Boone said Wells will undergo further testing for his neck on Sunday. Boone said the Yankees will have a better idea of how long Wells will be on the injured list after Sunday afternoon’s game.

“This complaint is new,” Boone said. “So, whether it’s a cumulative thing or something that happened last night, it’s tough to say.”

The Yankees optioned Escarra, who is 31 years old and in his second MLB season, to Triple-A Scranton late on Friday night after the 5–3 loss to the Red Sox and called up the veteran minor league right-handed-hitting catcher Ali Sánchez on Saturday. The Venezuelan Sanchez, who has played in 12 minor league seasons and has played in 50 games across four Major League seasons, has a double, six homers and a .702 OPS in 40 games at Triple-A Scranton this season. This is Sanchez’s first season in the Yankees organization.

Escarra is now needed back with the Yankees due to Wells going on the injured list. Sanchez is a right handed catcher and the Yankees have not utilized a right handed catcher recently. Sánchez, 29, was slated to be in the starting lineup on Saturday. He would have been the Yankees’ first right-handed hitting catcher since Jose Trevino started Game 3 of the 2024 World Series. The Yankees two catchers on the roster are Escarra and Sanchez due to Wells being on the injured list.

Escarra has made 18 starts and appeared in 22 games this season as Wells’s backup. Escarra has slashed .177/.235/.258 in 68 plate appearances. Escarra has gone just 3–25 in his last nine gams and those three hits came in one game on May 25. Escarra went 8–27 in a seven game span from April 16-May 7 with three doubles and a triple but outside of those seven games he only has three hits in his other 35 at-bats this season.

Wells has been a real weak spot at the bottom of the lineup as the starting catcher and has been one of the least productive hitters in the majors this season. His .533 OPS ranks 212th out of 217 players with at least 160 plate appearances. Wells or Escarra have started all of the Yankees 64 games this season. The team’s .527 OPS from the catcher position is 29th out of the 30 Major League teams.

It’s possible that Wells’s cervical headaches have affected him at the plate for some of or many of the games he has played in this season. In Wells’s 47 games this season, he has just one double, four homers, 45 strikeouts (almost one per game), a .166 average and a .278 OBP. In Wells’s last six games, he is 1–18. Wells went a very productive 3–6 seven games ago against the Royals. In his previous 14 games before that, he had gone 4–42 with 18 strikeouts.

Wells was a 35th round pick by the Yankees in 2018 out of high school and then he was a first round pick by the Yankees in 2020 out of the University of Arizona. Wells is in his fourth MLB season and he is in his third season as the primary catcher (Jose Trevino was the starting catcher to begin the 2014 season). He had a career-high 104 OPS+ in 2024 but last season was his most productive power season. In 2025, he had career-high 22 doubles, a career-high 21 homers and a career-high .436 slugging percentage. Wells had the fourth most homers among American League catchers in 2025.

Wells has joined Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton on the injured list. Stanton has been on the injured list since April 28 with a low grade calf strain. Stanton sustained the injury in Houston while running between first and second base.

“At this point, there’s no real peace of mind. You’re going to be out,” Stanton said shortly after the Yankees placed him on the injured list with a right calf strain. “It’s better [that] it won’t be a long time, but [to be] out again is not ideal.”

Stanton hasn’t played a full season since 2018, which was his first season in New York. Over the past several years, he has missed time with a left quad strain (2021), right ankle inflammation (2022), left Achilles tendinitis (‘22), left hamstring strains (2023, ’24) and epicondylitis in both elbows (2025). Stanton has 456 career homers, which are the most among active players and the 40th most of all time. His best season as a Yankees after the 2018 season was when he had 19 doubles, 25 homers and a 136 OPS+ in 2022. He had 24 homers and a 157 OPS+ last season in just 77 games.

Judge was put on the injured list on Friday with a stress fracture of his first rib on his right side and will be sidelined four to six weeks before being re-evaluated. He did not played in the series against the Cleveland Guardians and those were the first three games Judge had missed this season. Judge has been placed on the injured list for an indefinite period of time but the Yankees were confident that the will be back this season.