The New York Yankees have an apparent solution to their Austin Wells problem, but that doesn’t mean manager Aaron Boone will embrace it.

In the words of The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, “Wells has been one of the most disappointing Yankees this season.” Wells entered Tuesday with a .208/ .267/ .412/ .679 slash line for New York in 2025 to go along with 15 home runs and 56 RBIs in 308 at-bats.

Wells has struggled profoundly against off-speed pitches. He owns the worst batting average against sliders (.085) and against sweepers (.045) in Major League Baseball, per Kirschner.

Conveniently for the Yankees, there’s another catcher on the team who mashes: Ben Rice.

Rice is known primarily as a first baseman and designated hitter. Some non-Yankees fans might not be familiar with Rice’s capabilities as a catcher, but those abilities aren’t a mystery inside New York’s clubhouse. Krischner revealed on Tuesday that the Yankees have long been developing Rice as an option at catcher.

“At the beginning of the season, when Rice was mainly getting at-bats as the Yankees’ designated hitter and first baseman, catching coordinator Tanner Swanson said he believed Rice could start for at least a third of MLB teams,” Kirschner wrote.

“Behind the scenes, the Yankees were having Rice catch bullpens and slowly working him into lopsided games behind the plate. He’s now showing he could handle a bigger workload.”

The most recent evidence: Rice caught Will Warren on Monday in New York’s 7-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

While Rice remains an inferior framer to Wells (possibly only due to fewer reps), Rice is the superior hitter, at least right now. Entering Tuesday, Rice was slashing .235/ .326/ .463/ .789 with 17 home runs and 38 RBIs in 2025 (324 at-bats).

What’s more, Kirschner pointed out something interesting: “This season, no one in the majors has been more unlucky at the plate based on quality of contact than Ben Rice — except Juan Soto.”

Ultimately, Kirschner argued that giving Rice a larger chunk of starts at catcher would improve the team. However, Kirschner also noted that Boone doesn’t sound high on the idea.

“Reducing Wells’ at-bats in favor of Rice could give the Yankees a spark,” Kirschner wrote. “However, Boone wasn’t interested in entertaining the possibility of that happening, quickly dismissing a question regarding Rice getting more playing time behind the plate. “I don’t know. We’ll see,” Boone said.”

Following the current series against the Twins, the Yankees’ upcoming schedule includes home series against the Boston Red Sox (August 21-24) and Washington Nationals (Aug 25-26), and away series against the St. Louis Cardinals (August 15-17), Tampa Bay Rays (August 19-20) and Chicago White Sox (Aug 28-31).

Boone’s every move will be hawked by a Yankees fan base growing increasingly frustrated with his decisions.

New York entered Tuesday six games back of the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East. The Yankees held the third spot in the wild card with a one-game cushion over the Cleveland Guardians.