How financial advisor is fueling Orioles pitcher's comeback season

With help from his financial advisor, Baltimore Orioles pitcher Tyler Wells is investing not only in his post-baseball future, but also in the training and recovery routine he hopes will power a breakout 2026 season on the mound. 

“I told Justin [Boeving] that I want to go all in on this. I want to be able to invest in mental skills, training, nutrition, body recovery — everything that I need to do to make sure I'm setting myself up for success next year,” Wells told InvestmentNews. “As far as my goals for this upcoming season, it's really to take a big step forward in the durability aspect.”

Wells, now entering his sixth MLB season with the Orioles, works with Justin Boeving as his financial advisor. Boeving is a partner at Socium Advisors, a St. Louis-based wealth management firm registered with Northwestern Mutual. 

“These things [for training] are very costly, especially whenever you're trying to find the best people in the industry to work with,” said Wells. “So being able to communicate that with your financial advisor, and being able to have them write it into your plan [...] it gives you that sense of peace.”

Wells is one of 250 professional athletes who have been clients of Socium Advisors, which has served the sports industry for over 15 years. In an April 2025 announcement, Socium said it had $2.2 billion in assets under management. Their clients span athletes from the MLB, NFL, NBA, MLS, as well as a group of Olympians. 

“At any given point for any of our athletes, we never know when this is going to end,” Boeving told InvestmentNews. “So we want them to always be in a position that they can never play again tomorrow, and still be in a financial position where they're going to be okay the rest of their life and potentially for generations to come.”

Wells posted a strong 2.91 ERA over four starts in 2025, returning in the season’s final month after UCL surgery that sidelined him for most of the 2024 season as well. Wells, who played collegiately at Cal State San Bernardino before being drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 2016, was paid a $2.075 million salary last season by the Orioles. He has made about $5.9 million in career earnings to date, including his $90,000 signing after being drafted, according to sports contract database Spotrac.

“The first thing I went and got was a brand new truck, and it wasn't something that I could really afford. Then you go off and you spend money because you think that you have it all and you think that the road to the big leagues is going to be a little bit easier than what it actually is,” Wells said of his spending habits after being drafted in 2016. 

Wells became a father earlier this year when his wife Melissa gave birth to their daughter. Boeving’s team at Socium has helped Wells with budgeting, investing, tax planning and handling mortgages on two homes. The six-foot-eight right-hander is scheduled to hit free agency in 2028 when he would be 34 years old. 

“You realize that having a financial advisor is crucial for the longevity portion of our lives,” said Wells. “The game of baseball is a short window, it's a very limited amount of time that you're able to actually go and make significant money that could be life changing, or it could at least cushion you for a few years as you get into the normal world away from professional sports.”

Tax filing and planning is one area Boeving and his team at Socium have helped Wells tremendously. Athletes are taxed based on each state they play in across MLB’s 162-game season, in which teams are located across the country as well as the Toronto Blue Jays in Canada. Certain cities also implement a “jock tax” on visiting athletes, although the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled last month that Pittsburgh's jock tax was unconstitutional.

“I can never imagine trying to sit there and go try and figure out all the tax implications in every single place that we play,” Well said. “When I talk to Justin and I talk to the team that he builds, it creates confidence in me because I know that these people take their job very seriously. They're doing everything by the book, they're over communicating with me. They are making sure that I am in full understanding of everything that we're doing, and they lay it all out for me in a very simple and effective way.”

Most of Boeving’s financial planning communication with Wells happens in January and February before the start of spring training, and the two will also touch base around the MLB All-Star Break. 

“Tyler’s discipline is one of the things that sets him apart, not just on the field but in every aspect of life,” Boeving said. “He brings the same level of commitment to his family and his finances as he does the training and performance side of things. That mindset makes our partnership really incredibly productive because he's engaged, he's thoughtful, and he's striving for excellence.”

Wells is currently slated to remain a starting pitcher for the Orioles next season, the team’s president of baseball operations Mike Elias said last month. The most innings in a big-league season for Wells came in 2023, when he compiled a 7-6 record for Baltimore across 118 innings and 20 starts with a 3.64 ERA and 0.98 WHIP.

“I think I've shown in years past that I can be a pretty good arm in this game,” Wells said “I want to make sure that I put myself on the radar to show that I'm no longer an underdog. I'm here, I want to stay. I want to be extremely durable as a starter, and I owe that to the organization that's given me a lot of opportunity, and I owe that to myself.”