TAMPA — The MLB Players Association may not have an official leader at the moment, but the players are doubling down on the strength of the union.
Austin Wells, the Yankees’ player rep, held a meeting with his teammates Wednesday morning to voice that message and address the fallout of the sudden resignation Tuesday by executive director Tony Clark, which came at a critical time with a labor battle looming next offseason.
“It’s a message of strength,” Wells said in the clubhouse at Steinbrenner Field. “We’re just as strong as we were Friday versus today.
“I think we have a lot of confidence in our executive subcommittee, who did a great job handling all this. They were very informative [Tuesday] in the meeting that we had. [They] explained what was happening to us, and they did a great job handling it. It’s not an easy situation. So on the players’ side of things, we have a lot of confidence in that.”
Wells was on the call Tuesday with all 30 player reps and the executive subcommittee, in which they opted not to vote on an immediate replacement for Clark.
The ex-Yankee stepped down in the wake of an internal investigation that found he had an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law, who was hired by the MLBPA in 2023.
The expectation is that there will be another call later Wednesday after player reps had a chance to talk through things with their respective teams, and an interim leader may be voted on then.
“[Clark’s resignation] came as a little bit of a surprise,” Wells said. “It’s unfortunate, but I think we’re moving in a good direction.”
