Less than 20 games into the 2025 season, a few food-related ailments have already taken a toll on the Yankees’ lineup.
As if New York playing a series of regular-season road games at George R. Steinbrenner Field wasn’t odd enough, it will be without catcher Austin Wells for the second game of the four-game series with the Rays. Wells missed the first game of the series for a scheduled off-day, but his second absence comes with a designation.
While Wells’ name won’t be placed on the injured list, it’s unlikely that he’ll be around at all on Friday. Here’s more on what Wells is dealing with and why he’s out of the lineup Friday.
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What happened to Austin Wells?
Wells is out of the lineup on Friday against the Rays with food poisoning.
Austin Wells is out of the lineup with food poisoning. He said he felt great yestersay, that was a scheduled off-day. This issue occurred overnight.
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) April 18, 2025
The 25-year-old catcher told reporters that the issue happened overnight and that he woke up Friday morning with food poisoning. It is not related to a burrito, according to The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner.
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The burrito clarification is tied to Wells’ admission that he goes above and beyond by rating burritos, going as far as doing so on Instagram. The desire to figure out what caused Wells’ issue is also likely related to the fact that he is the second Yankee to miss a game with food poisoning in as many weeks.
On Tuesday, April 8, veteran Cody Bellinger was pulled from the lineup after a bad batch of wings gave him food poisoning. Bellinger only missed one game and was back in the lineup the next day.
Seeing how it is almost deja vu all over again for the Yankees, they can only hope to welcome Wells back to the lineup sooner rather than later.
