Yankees' Austin Wells: Starting Wednesday's exhibition

Wells is in the lineup for Wednesday's Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals, starting at catcher and batting fifth, Erik Boland of Newsday reports.

The Yankees had previously disclosed a plan to keep Wells out of spring games until March 1, but the catcher will end up making his Grapefruit League debut a bit earlier than expected. In his age-24 campaign, Wells slashed .229/.322/.395 with 13 homers and 55 RBI across 414 regular-season plate appearances, and he should shoulder even more of the workload behind the plate in 2025, if healthy.